The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenceman Jake McCabe on injured reserve retroactive to January 5 and recalled defenceman Marshall Rifai.
Maple Leafs D Jake McCabe has been placed on IR (retroactive to January 5).
D Marshall Rifai has been recalled from the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) January 6, 2025
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McCabe, 31, left Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers after a fight gone wrong against Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway bumped into goaltender Dennis Hildeby after the whistle, which McCabe took exception to, giving the big Flyers forward a little extra shove while he was on the ground. The two dropped the gloves and the fight ended with McCabe presumably hitting his head on his way down to the ice.
Garnet Hathaway and Jake McCabe drop the gloves in a wild tilt 🥊 pic.twitter.com/lKQ7VVRLVp
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 6, 2025
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It would be the second stint for McCabe on the IR this season, the first time coming after he blocked a shot against the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 30 in the area of his right ear on the back of his head. He missed five games before returning to the lineup on December 12 and has continued playing an important role on a team that’s been able to use their defensive ability as a strong suit.
Craig Berube says Jake McCabe suffered an upper-body injury but can’t provide further update beyond that. “It’s concerning, for sure. Like I said, I don’t like seeing it.”
— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) January 6, 2025
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The Maple Leafs have the eighth-fewest goals-against-per-game (GA/GP) at 2.76 and the eighth-best penalty kill at 82.7%, and while the strong performance they’ve gotten in net all year is part of the reason for that, the general emphasis of team defence is most to thank, and McCabe is a big part of that.
The Maple Leafs originally acquired McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks along with then-teammate Sam Lafferty around the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, coming over for a package including a first-round pick and a couple of prospects. While Lafferty was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for a third-round pick prior to the following season, McCabe settled into his role with the Leafs and ended up signing a five-year contract extension ahead of the 2024-25 season, carrying an average annual value (AAV) of $4.51 million.
McCabe scored his first goal of the season on Saturday night in a 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins, with fellow defenceman Simon Benoit joking that the two players had a bet going over who would score first in 2024-25. McCabe came out victorious and now has 11 points in 36 games for the Maple Leafs.
Rifai, 26, has four points in 26 games with the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and will fill a very similar role to McCabe assuming he gets into some games. He’s a strong, physical defence-first defender and is not afraid to get his hands dirty or stick up for his teammates, which makes the call-up make that much more sense.
The Maple Leafs will be back in action on Tuesday night to close out their home-and-home with the Flyers on the road.
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