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Ilya Mikheyev Injury is Not Short-Term for Toronto Maple Leafs

Ilya Mikheyev Injury

As the season fast approaches, the Toronto Maple Leafs have already received bad news. The Ilya Mikheyev injury was described as “not short-term” by head coach Sheldon Keefe. Sure enough, on Monday Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Mikeheyev requires thumb surgery and is out for approximately eight weeks.

Ilya Mikheyev Injury Bad News for Toronto

Unfortunately, this is not the start either side wanted. An Ilya Mikheyev injury is just another in a line of unfortunate events. He also missed a good chunk of time in the 2019-20 season due to injury. Mikheyev had requested a trade from the Leafs this offseason but was reportedly told no as the Leafs saw him as a part of the future. With names such as Zach Hyman and Nick Foligno moving on, he had a good chance at more ice time.

Mikheyev was undrafted and brought over from the KHL when he was 25. In 93 NHL games, he has 15 goals and 25 assists. All with Toronto. In preseason action against the Ottawa Senators, Mikheyev fell and awkwardly landed on his hand. Seeing him leave the game right after.

 Moving Forward

There is no question this is a big loss for the Leafs. However, they did bring in plenty of depth this offseason in case something like this happened. Nick Ritchie will be in the top six and now Michael Bunting may get a shot too. They also have Wayne Simmonds on the left-wing and sent down Nick Robertson.

Regardless, the biggest thing Toronto will miss in Mikheyev is his blazing speed. He failed to capitalize on all of his chances, however, he sure could create quite a few problems with how quick he was. Hopefully, this is nothing super serious for Mikheyev and he can return to the lineup later this season.

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