The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that defenceman Travis Dermott is sidelined for a minimum of six months with a shoulder injury.

The @MapleLeafs announced today that defenceman Travis Dermott will undergo shoulder surgery on Friday, May 10. He is expected to miss a minimum of six months.

— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) May 9, 2019

Travis Dermott Injured

It is still unknown when Dermott sustained this injury, however, he missed 14 games last season due to a shoulder injury.

This past season, Dermott has scored 4 goals and 13 assists for 17 points to go along with 22 minutes in penalties in 64 games. His possession numbers were 54.9 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of 5.2.

Over his 2-year NHL career, Dermott has played exclusively for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has 5 goals and 25 assists for 30 career points in 101 career games. He was originally drafted by the Leafs in the second round, 34th overall in the 2015 NHL draft.

What This Means Travis Dermott and the Leafs

The Leafs will be missing Dermott until at least November with the minimum 6-month timeline, meaning he will miss training camp and the first part of the season. This is one of many injuries to come out after the playoffs, including Zach Hyman‘s injured ACL. This upcoming season is a contract year for Dermott, and not something he would want to sit out for a lot of.

For the Leafs, Dermott is already a big part of the defence but would have gotten an even bigger role this upcoming season, as they are likely to lose Jake Gardiner and have already seen Igor Ozhiganov leave. The team came forth earlier this year and said they’d like to play him with Jake Muzzin moving forward, having Muzzin on the left and Dermott on the right. With Dermott also finishing the season on the right side, it seemed that this was their intentions.

This will open up a slot in training camp for a new player to take his place on the right side. It could be Justin Holl who did not get very many games this season, or the Leafs could give right-handed prospect Timothy Liljegren a shot to start the year and evaluate him. While the injury is a hard one to make up for, it gives the Leafs an opportunity to look at what they have in terms of prospects or depth.

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