Insider Trading: Leafs working through injuries before playoffs; What’s Price’s future?

TSN Hockey Insiders Pierre LeBrun and Chris Johnston join host James Duthie to discuss a trio of injury updates for the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into the playoffs, the future of Carey Price and when a location for the 2023 World Junior Championship will be selected.

We’re less than a week from the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but the Toronto Maple Leafs are going into the postseason with some lineup uncertainty. Here are a few injury updates on a trio of Toronto’s skaters.

Johnston: It’s a busy time right now. A lot of uncertainty. And I would caution you, don’t just pay attention to who’s playing games. That’s because Jake Muzzin did return to the Maple Leafs’ lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee we’ll see him back for the playoffs. Muzzin has missed the past six games, he’s been dealing with an undisclosed upper-body issue and he wants to know if he feels comfortable. If he can engage in the battle and do everything that’s needed come playoff time. And so how he comes out of this game against Detroit and potentially Friday’s against Boston will dictate that. Whereas Michael Bunting won’t play these games. The Leafs announced that on Tuesday but there’s a lot of optimism in his circumstance that he will be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs. As for Ondrej Kase, a little bit more unclear. No timeline on his return. But he would like to get himself in a position to play Game 1.  

Despite his return at the tail end of this season, there are questions about Carey Price’s health heading into next season. Where might he be at next fall?

LeBrun: It certainly raised eyebrows when he decided to join the team to go to New York only to see the doctor that operated on