It looks as though Phil Oreskovic will make his NHL debut tomorrow night vs. Ottawa as the Leafs attempt to cope with an injury-riddled blue-line. Anton Stralman will also feature with Tomas Kaberle, Mike Van Ryn, Jonas Frogren and waiver pick-up Erik Reitz all sidelined. Reitz and Kaberle should be back in action within a week whereas Van Ryn’s season may well be over after he sustained a wince-inducing knee injury last night against the Oilers. Just when we thought we were done with one freakishly injury prone defenseman, it looks like VR will be eliciting the frustration of Carlo Colaiacovo’s tenure as a very skilled defenseman who simply cannot stay off the shelf. The timeline on Frogren isn’t yet known, but Wilson suggested after last night’s loss that “he will be a while” recovering from his lower body injury.
Check out Garrett Bauman’s “Getting To Know You” profile of Phil Oreskovic here.
I have a feeling last night’s tilt was a preview of what’s to come for the remainder of the ’08/’09 campaign, with lots of shots and hard work undone by an inability to generate a finishing product. And that’s by no means surprising with two of the Leafs‘ best offensive producers this season now donning Sabres and Rangers uniforms respectively. Hopefully Nik Hagman’s imminent return will provide the line-up with a bit of an offensive stimulus.
