The Maple Leafs won’t have a clean bill of health to start the regular season.
The Leafs announced on Friday morning that centre Scott Laughton will be out on a week-to-week basis with a lower-body injury.
During the Leafs’ 3-1 pre-season loss against the Detroit Red Wings, Laughton blocked two shots. After one of the blocks, he winced noticeably and clearly was in pain. His last shift came during the final three minutes of the game.
With Laughton out, David Kampf was at centre on the fourth line between Steven Lorentz and rookie Easton Cowan.
It’s possible that the Kampf line will play in the Leafs’ last pre-season game, on Saturday night in Detroit against the Red Wings.
MY QUICK TAKE
Though it’s the fourth line we’re talking about, there’s no denying that coach Craig Berube was seeing the importance of the chemistry that had been growing between Laughton, Lorentz and Cowan.
Laughton had been energized in his first full Leafs camp and was demonstrating he was going to leave a tough start, after being acquired from Philadelphia in March, in the past. Now, the veteran is going to hope he can pick it up again when he returns to the lineup, whenever that might be.
It’s a reprieve for Kampf, who hasn’t been in the team’s plans. He was a healthy scratch in the playoffs after returning from injury last spring and might have been waived this weekend had Laughton not been injured.
If general manager Brad Treliving has continued to be active in trying to trade Kampf, any deal, presumably, won’t be happening now.
One bonus is that Kampf can slide into Laughton’s minutes on the penalty kill. Among Leafs forwards last season, Kampf had the second-most penalty-killing minutes after Mitch Marner.
We’ll see what this development does for Cowan. Kampf, simply, doesn’t have the offensive instincts that Laughton does. That will have an impact on Cowan, whose ability to make plays is key for the trio.
More to come …
X: @koshtorontosun