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In Friday’s 5-4 OT win over the New Jersey Devils, Ilya Mikheyev had his wrist accidentally cut by the skate of Jesper Bratt as he was falling to the ice. There was a lot of blood as Mikheyev skated straight off the ice and was eventually led to the hospital by the Leafs training staff.
Mikheyev spent the night in a local hospital in New Jersey. We don’t know if he underwent surgery or anything. According to a doctor twitter friend, Dr. Harjas Grewal, there are many things in the wrist that could be cut and require surgery in the wrist. We’re all hoping for the best and a short, speedy recovery for Mikheyev.
Potentially similar to Alec Martinez’s wrist laceration for Mikheyev with worry for vascular, tendon, ligament, and/or nerve injury. If that’s the case, could be out for 6+ weeks #LeafsForever https://t.co/2UVrOrwQUO
— Dr. Harjas Grewal (@Harjas_Grewal) December 28, 2019
Surprisingly enough, Maple Leafs prospect Egor Korshkov is currently dealing with a similar injury right now. Korshkov missed his fifth game on Friday for the Toronto Marlies as he is recovering from a laceration to his leg. We don’t have very much information on Korshkov’s injury, including when it happened because we didn’t see any blood, but he’s been out since December 8th, coming up on three weeks.
Happened here. #10 black goes for a body check, kind of bounces off and his right leg swings back and catches Korshkov behind the right leg it seems. pic.twitter.com/fO6tmYm5Ah
— Wipe the slate, clear the canvas part 2 (@RodBlanchard) December 15, 2019
This was really heart-warming to hear after the game. John Tavares is “obviously” a very muted quote, but the actions of him and his teammates speak louder than words when it comes to things like this.
John Tavares said Mikheyev’s injury took emotional toll on #Leafs: “It was obviously scary there, and to see that much blood. That’s obviously a guy that we care deeply about.”
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 28, 2019
Keefe said players were asking for updates during stoppages, just seeing if he was alright.
Hyman on Mikheyev: “It’s bigger than the game when something like that happens. Right now you want to make sure that first and foremost your friend and your teammate is okay because it's a scary thing to happen.”
— Joshua Kloke (@joshuakloke) December 28, 2019
Michael Hutchinson on seeing Ilya Mikheyev run off: “It’s terrifying. All of a sudden I could just see a ton of blood coming from somewhere and a lot more than a usual hi-stick or anything like that. Hopefully he’s alright.”
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 28, 2019
Sheldon Keefe on Ilya Mikheyev: “He’s getting evaluated and it’s a deep cut, and now we're just gonna have to get it sorted out. He’ll stay here in Jersey tonight and get evaluated to figure out what needs to be done.”
— Kristen Shilton (@kristen_shilton) December 28, 2019
The Branches
I like how Brigs writes his recaps. He shares a good combination of action and explanation in them so I encourage reading his, even if you watched the game. Free Willy Nylander!
The Marlies lost their third-straight Boxing Day game on Thursday to the Belleville Senators. I wrote a recap of the game and predicted both call ups the Leafs ended up making before Friday. They played their second game in the three-in-three yesterday, a 3-2 win over the Laval Rocket.
Speaking of call ups, with Mikheyev and Trevor Moore out, the Leafs have 12 healthy forwards on their roster as of now, including Adam Brooks. Will he get to make his NHL debut on Saturday night against the New York Rangers? My money is on a sneaky roster switch and Nic Petan getting that game.
Lastly, even a conference away Nazem Kadri is getting treated like scum. They called that embellishment? Frankly, how did the refs in the Leafs game call Hyman for embellishment in the third? What is embellishment?
nazem kadri: literally gets choked out and dragged to the ice
— wjc szn (@nazzykadri) December 28, 2019
refs fumbling for their whistles: EMBELLISHMENT !!! https://t.co/Lkz3cWjv9b
I just don't know how Kadri embellishes this. https://t.co/jAWKj40MCJ
— AJ Haefele (@AJHaefele) December 28, 2019