Rasmus Sandin's return will help Leafs

Leafs blue-line faces a season of drama in eight days

TORONTO The Toronto Maple Leafs somehow crammed a winter's worth of upheaval on defence into the first eight days of training camp.

Who makes the starting six in Montreal on Oct. 12 and just how they're deployed will keep the rest of the NHL guessing.

The previous 48 hours alone saw the signing of Rasmus Sandin, injuries to Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlström, causing two forwards drop back in a game and coach Sheldon Keefe dangle the possibility of Mitch Marner seeing some blue-line time — under the right circumstances.

That followed mid-september hernia surgery for Timothy Liljegren and a wear-and-tear concern that saw Jake Muzzin miss a few days of practice.

First to Sandin, a two-year US$1.4 million AAV deal. The Cold War with agent Lewis Gross ended as the latter camp watched the Leafs go down two blueliners in Wednesday's 3-0 win over Montreal.

“Rasmus and Lewis informed us after watching last night and seeing more injuries accrued by our defence, that they wanted to get this locked in so Rasmus could get over to Toronto and help his teammates,” Dubas tweeted to reporters.

“We appreciate (giving) him the time to ready for the final pre-season games (Oct. 7-8 against Detroit).

“To get signed and get him here (from Sweden), we welcome him,” Keefe said after two groups practised Thursday. “We'll determine where he's at and get him on the ice shortly after.”

Keefe had begun looking at other options before Wednesday's injuries. Regular partners Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie were to have been separated Wednesday night, Brodie with old Calgary Flames partner Mark Giordano. The left shooting Rielly is seeing some time on the right side to open up some other options for a raft of lefties.

“It's just a matter of time, you work at it and it becomes more comfortable,” Rielly said of switching. “It's actually nice in the offensive zone, you get to walk in the middle on your forehand.

“You do have to handle pucks on your backhand and it's not overly familiar, but those (situations) happen in the course of a season. If that's the case, we have lots of guys who could make that switch.”

Rielly and all-star right winger Marner took some reps together Thursday and Keefe said it wasn't just for kicks after forwards Alex Kerfoot and Calle Järnkrok filled in for Benn and Dahlström.

“It's something Mitch and I have talked about before camp began,” Keefe said, noting it's not the first time he snuck in a look at that odd pair since last week. “There might be opportunities in games where we might want to give him a look on defence. When we're trying to score a goal, playing from behind or whatever the case may be, we might give him some opportunity there and see what that looks like.”

Keefe said Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar's remarkable career so far with the Avalanche has turned a lot of heads and likely will inspire more defenceman to take flight and conversely, forwards will evolve to cover more blue-line territory for those gamblers.

“Let's not rule out a forward line of defencemen,” Rielly urged in jest. “If they can play D, we can play forward.”

Muzzin kidded that watching Järnkrok and Kerfoot convinced him to speed up his return, though he stressed it wasn't an actual back injury that sidelined him a couple of days into camp.

“It's something I've dealt with (throughout his career),” the 33-year-old said. “You play a long time, a lot of games and stuff adds up. We've managed it really good for a long time.”

Keefe did not get MRI results back in time on Thursday for Benn (groin) and Dahlström (shoulder).

Sandin's signing might cloud the club's salary picture after the Leafs were projected to exceed the $82.5 million cap, but the injuries could provide some relief by opening night.

Captain John Tavares is expected out a minimum of three weeks and will miss the opener.

While Sandin rejected the same two-year pact Liljegren signed as an RFA earlier in the summer, reports say he gets more money distributed in the second year of his deal and will be due $100,000 more than his countryman in a qualifying offer in the summer of 2025.

Sandin had a knee injury in March last season and lost his starting job to Liljegren, but managed 16 points in 51 games.

Let's not rule out a forward line of defencemen. If they can play D, we can play forward. MORGAN RIELLY