The injury-ravaged Toronto Maple Leafs placed Matthew Knies on injured reserve Friday and signed fellow forward Alex Nylander to a one-year contract, recalling him from the AHL Marlies.
Knies was hurt in a mid-ice check by Las Vegas defenceman Zach Whitecloud in the Toronto’s 3-0 home win Wednesday. Knies did not return and has been placed on injured reserve retroactive to Wednesday with an upper-body injury.
Toronto is already missing captain Auston Matthews, Max Domi, David Kampf, Max Pacioretty and Calle Jarnkrok due to injury, as well as Ryan Reaves, who is one game into his five-game ban for felling Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse with an illegal check to the head.
Whitecloud, who stood up as he delivered the hit, was not penalized for the punishing check despite video review, but got a minor roughing penalty for tangling with Simon Benoit, who got a four-minute roughing call for his attempted retribution.
“They thought it was a clean hit so it’s a clean hit,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said after the game, referencing the league. “Really there’s nothing to say.”
Under league rules, a player placed on Injured reserve is ineligible to compete in NHL games for at least seven days. Toronto (12-6-2) hosts Utah on Sunday before heading to Florida to play at the Panthers on Wednesday.
Veteran Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson missed practice Friday due to illness. The club recalled defenceman Philippe Myers from a conditioning stint with the Marlies. The 27-year-old from Moncton, who signed as a free agent in July, has appeared in one game with the Leafs this season.
Nylander’s contract is worth $775,000.
The 26-year-old Nylander, the younger brother of Leafs star William Nylander, has eight goals and four assists in 14 games with the Toronto Marlies this season.
The six-foot-one 205-pounder has 222 career points (102 goals, 120 assists) in 344 regular-season AHL games split between Toronto, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rockford and Rochester.
The younger Nylander has 49 points (25 goals, 24 assists) in 121 career NHL games split between Columbus, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Buffalo.
He won a silver medal with Sweden at the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championships.
Alex Nylander joined the Toronto organization as a free agent, signing a one-year AHL contract in July. He was originally selected by the Sabres in the first round (eight overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.
The injuries have promoted a string of call-ups for the Leafs. Fraser Minter scored his first NHL goal Wednesday in his season debut and fifth career NHL game while Russian Nikita Grebenkin made his NHL debut.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2024.