Oliver Ekman-Larsson gave the Maple Leafs a jolt Thursday night, heading down the tunnel against the Rangers before returning to the ice.
The 35-year-old's face slammed into the head of Rangers forward Justin Dowling, and he went straight for the room.
For a team already patching holes on the back end, that was the worst possible sight. And then, just like that, he was back out there.
Chris Tanev is on IR with an upper-body injury and isn't expected back until at least October 31. Marshall Rifai is day-to-day with an undisclosed issue.
Of the seven defensemen on Toronto's roster, two are already banged up. Lose a third and Jim Hiller is rearranging pairs on the fly.
The clip runs six seconds. Dowling's No. 37 and Ekman-Larsson's No. 95 tangle along the boards near the blue line, and the Leafs defender's face lands square on Dowling's head.
His season hasn't exactly been a highlight reel either. Ekman-Larsson has one assist through 11 games, and it came shorthanded.
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Jim Hiller's aging Maple Leafs blue line faces a western road trip
After tonight, Toronto heads out for four straight road games: Edmonton on Saturday, then Calgary, Seattle and Vancouver.
Tanev's earliest projected return lines up with the very last stop of that swing, in Vancouver.
Look at the ages on this back end. Ekman-Larsson is 35, Jake McCabe is 33, and Morgan Rielly and Troy Stecher are both 32.
Running that group through four western rinks is like driving a moving truck on a bad tire with no spare in the back. It rolls until it doesn't.
The offense from the blue line isn't bailing anyone out. Toronto's defensemen have one goal combined this season, and it belongs to Rifai.
Rielly leads the group with seven assists, but he's also minus-4. Darren Raddysh has three power play assists on an $8,500,000 cap hit.
The forwards have been carrying the freight. Auston Matthews has 18 points in 11 games, and the Leafs have scored 38 goals while giving up 35.
That's how you end up 5-4-2. Plenty of goals, not enough doors closed in your own end.
Here's the blunt part. Leaning on a 35-year-old who went minus-3 over his last 10 games as a stabilizer is a bad plan, scare or no scare.
The Rangers arrived at 7-3-1, allowing just 2.2 goals per game. The road has been a different story for Mike Sullivan's group, at 1-3-1.
This is the first meeting between the two clubs this season. Dowling, a 36-year-old depth forward on an $850,000 deal, came in with three games played and no points.
Toronto entered the night riding a two-game win streak, fresh off a 6-2 win in Columbus on Tuesday.
So does Ekman-Larsson wake up Friday morning feeling fine? Face-first collisions have a way of announcing themselves the next day, and Saturday's puck drop in Edmonton is coming fast.
Should the Maple Leafs keep leaning on Oliver Ekman-Larsson through this western road trip?
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