Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is expected to be ready for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, coach Craig Berube said on Tuesday.
Ekman-Larsson, 33, hasn’t played since sustaining an upper-body injury while falling awkwardly on a breakaway in a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning last Wednesday.
The Maple Leafs (50-26-4, 104 points) visit the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night and host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday to conclude the regular season.
Toronto is four points up on the second-place Lightning in the race for the Atlantic Division title. The postseason begins on Saturday, and the Maple Leafs are still awaiting an opponent. Should they win the division, they will draw the Ottawa Senators. Should they fall into the No. 2 slot of the Atlantic, they will take on the Florida Panthers.
“Right now, I mean, I expect (Ekman-Larsson) to play, but you never know,” Berube said on Tuesday. “He’s tough. He’ll play through things. And if he’s not in the lineup, somebody else is going to have to step up. That’s just the bottom line. That’s part of the playoffs.”
Edman-Larsson, 33, has four goals, 25 assists, a plus-14 rating, 52 penalty minutes, 83 blocks, 108 hits and a 21:04 average ice time in 77 games in his first season with Toronto. Last year, he was a key cog on the blue line for the Panthers en route to their first Stanley Cup title.
The veteran has 148 goals and 500 points for his career, playing in 1,059 games with the then-Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes (2010-21), Vancouver Canucks (2021-23), Panthers (2023-24) and Maple Leafs.
Meanwhile, Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe will miss his sixth consecutive game on Tuesday because of an upper-body injury. He might not return before the first-round playoff series is underway.
“There’s always a concern, right?” Berube said. “It’s just a little ways away yet for me to make those kinds of decisions and things like that. I’ve got to see them up close a little bit more here and talk to these guys and see where they’re at.”
McCabe, 31, has two goals, 21 assists, a plus-23 rating, 40 penalty minutes, 135 blocks and 118 hits while averaging a team-high 21:31 of ice time in 66 games this season.
He has 175 career points in 643 games with the Sabres (2013-21), Chicago Blackhawks (2021-23) and Maple Leafs, since joining them in February 2023.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this report.
