Maple Leafs practice and injury report

TJ Brodie is hurt, and the rest is up in the air.

TJ Brodie, who last played for the Maple Leafs on Saturday, is now on IR. No timeline was given for what Sheldon Keefe told reporters today was a rib injury. The minimum time for IR is seven days, but it can be backdated to the date of the actual injury.

Brodie did not play on Sunday, and Conor Timmins drew back into the lineup and scored his first NHL goal.

In other news from practice, Auston Matthews is taking a maintenance day, and the recalled Bobby McMann was taking turns on the third line.

McMann was signed by the Maple Leafs to an ELC in April of this year. The deal began this season. He had been on an AHL deal with the Marlies and had just broken Josh Leivo’s rookie goal-scoring record.

This recall to the Leafs comes a day after he was named AHL player of the week. McMann is not a young prospect, and he wasn’t on anyone’s Top 25 list last summer because he is 26 now — the usual peak of a hockey player’s career. He currently has eight goals and seven assists in 17 AHL games, which puts him well down the list of AHLers by points, no matter how you look at it.

He has looked like a player equal to Joey Anderson and Alex Steeves at times — particularly last year. He also stood out to me in the famous preseason game of no defencemen as a fast skater. Older scouting reports mention some power forward aspects to his game as well. Maybe he’s a stealth NHLer, but it just pays to have everyone get some experience for when the inevitable happens and the forwards start taking their share of IR time.

When we have word on what exactly is up with Matthews or who is playing tomorrow, we’ll post it, likely tomorrow in the preview.