The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenceman Jake McCabe on injury reserve, retroactively on Jan. 5. As a result, they’ve called up Marshall Rifai from the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. McCabe suffered an upper-body injury in Toronto’s last game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. The Leafs D-man got into an on-ice altercation with Flyers grinder Garnet Hathaway behind the play, late in the first period. The interaction turned into a fight between the two and McCabe got the worst of it. He fell on the ice with his head being the main point of contact. The blueliner was very slow to get up and showed signs of dizziness. Eventually, he got up and was able to go to the dressing room on his own accord. Even though he didn’t return, the Leafs held on for a 3-2 overtime win, Morgan Rielly scored the winner.
Maple Leafs D Jake McCabe has been placed on IR (retroactive to January 5).
D Marshall Rifai has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) January 6, 2025
McCabe Put On IR, Rifai Recalled
With McCabe placed on IR, he will be forced to miss one week. In other words, he’ll be missing Toronto’s next three games. The Maple Leafs take on the Flyers again on Tuesday, the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. This is the second time this season that McCabe has been placed on IR. They are both similar injuries because they both involve the head area. He missed the beginning of December after taking a puck to the head against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
On the other hand, Rifai has been called up with a chance to feature for the first time this season for the Maple Leafs. Head coach Craig Berube could consider slotting him into the lineup to replace McCabe as they are both right-handed defencemen. However, Conor Timmins has been a healthy scratch recently and there’s a good chance he could be back. Timmins has played 34 games with the Leafs this season, scoring one goal and recording seven assists.
Main Photo Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images
