Slowly but surely, the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ blue line is returning to health.
Mark Giordano‘s broken finger is all healed up and the veteran defenceman expects to make his return to the lineup Friday in Columbus against the Blue Jackets (Sportnset Ontario at 7 p.m. ET).
Due to the nature of Giordano’s injury, which sidelined him for a month, the 40-year-old has had the benefit of logging plenty of ice time while his hand recovered and feels his conditioning is up to snuff.
He’s also had a chance to soak in the pros and cons of his teammates’ inconsistent 6-3-3 performance without his contribution. Toronto had been on a 5-1-1 heater before a rather innocuous shot block took Giordano out of action.
“It sucks watching, whether the team’s winning or losing. If the team’s winning, you’re not part of it. If the team’s losing, you want to help in any way that you can,” Giordano told reporters in Toronto before boarding the charter to Ohio.
“You see a lot more from up top. You see the play develop more.”
The NHL’s all-time shot block leader says there wasn’t anything particularly vicious about his 2,128th block, the one that put him in the press box.
“I think I broke my ankle earlier in my career on just like a muffin off the wing, too,” Giordano said. “This one wasn’t a hard shot. I think it just got [my finger] in the right spot.”
While depth defencemen Simon Benoit, William Lagesson, and Conor Timmins held the fort admirably in the absence of Giordano (and the recently healthy Timothy Liljegren for that matter), the Maple Leafs have had troubling bouts when they’ve struggled to break out of their own zone or snuff out the opposition’s cycles.
So, yes, head coach Sheldon Keefe is welcoming the return of Giordano’s much-lauded intangibles (experience, leadership), but the coach is also looking forward to his dependable penalty killing and decision-making.
Having Leafs’ defencemen cleanly fuel the club’s skilled forwards’ offensive rushes has been a focal point of late.
“One of the things probably understated is how [Giordano] can move the puck in all three zones for us quickly and efficiently. We like that,” Keefe said.
“It’s important for us to get him back up to speed here for us and get him going.”
Moreover, with Toronto’s defence as healthy as it’s going to be, GM Brad Treliving will now get a clearer picture of his blueline’s strengths and limitations as he preps his trade deadline shopping list and weighs how best to spend John Klingberg’s LTIR money.
Comfortably in a playoff position, the team Giordano rejoins is showing recent signs of malaise, with half-hearted losses to the Sabres and Senators.
Currently in the third seed, the Leafs sit just six points behind the Atlantic-leading Bruins with a game in hand and two points back of Florida with two games in hand.
Sharpen up defensively, and Toronto could conceivably take a run at the division crown and a more favourable first-round matchup.
“Everyone is still in it, tight. That’s why it’s really important to get on some nice runs if we can and avoid losing a bunch of games in a row,” Giordano said.
“It’s going to be a battle for the division, it looks like, right to the end.”
One-Timers: Ilya Samsonov (5-2-5, .871) gets the nod in Columbus. He has surrendered an average of five goals over his past three starts and will look to regain confidence after a Christmas reset. Beware the Columbus goal cannon … That means Martin Jones should expect to start Saturday versus Carolina … Detroit’s Michael Hutchinson was placed on waivers Thursday … Lagesson appears to be the odd man out with Giordano returning. “We gotta make some tough lineup decisions,” Keefe said … Winger William Nylander will attempt to extend his point streak to 13 games.
Maple Leafs’ projected lines Friday in Columbus
Knies – Matthews – Marner
Bertuzzi – Tavares – Nylander
Robertson – Domi – Järnkrok
McMann – Kämpf – Gregor
Rielly – Brodie
McCabe – Benoit
Giordano – Liljegren
Samsonov starts
Jones