Woe is Leafs, Lupul out indefinitely with broken bone in hand
It seems the Columbus Blue Jackets injury woes have trickled over to their opponent in Friday night's game, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As the Leafs took to the ice for the pregame skate, one piece of the team's offensive game was missing. (And no, it wasn't an actual offensive strategy by Randy Carlyle. That hasn't been seen in years.)
Joffrey Lupul isn't on the ice with the #leafs for pre-game warmups.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 31, 2014
Then the world found out why:
Joffrey Lupul has a broken bone in his right hand after falling at practice yesterday. Out indefinitely.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 31, 2014
Joffrey Lupul finished practice yesterday. He had an x-ray in Columbus this morning and found out about the broken bone in his right hand.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) October 31, 2014
Oh my stars, Joffrey Lupul is injured - again. Per Jonas Siegel of TSN, Lupul tripped on a stick during practice and fell hard on his hand.
The 31-year-old has missed handfuls (and in some cases, shovelfuls) of games over the 12-years of his NHL career. The last time he played more than 70 games in a season was 2008-2009 when he was with the Flyers.
In nine games played this season, the right-hand shooting Lupul has 3-points (2 goals, 1 assist). Carlyle tends to ride the veterans he trusts as evidenced in the time on ice. Lupul is 10th on the Leafs in time-on-ice at 18:09. There is nearly 90 second difference between him and the next forward, Nazem Kadri.
With Lupul out, Carter Ashton drew in for his first game of the season. Fun fact courtesy of Sportsnet: when Lupul isn't in the lineup for Toronto, the Leafs are 28-25-8.
