Leafs' Jake Muzzin announced out for remainder of season
Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin is done for the season.
On Tuesday, the Leafs announced that Muzzin would be shut down for the season, giving clarity to him and the club as they move to look ahead to the 2023-24 season.
The 34-year-old left-handed defenceman has been injured since mid-October with a cervical spine injury that has held him out of the lineup. General manager Kyle Dubas said at the time he would be reevaluated in February.
Update on defenceman Jake Muzzin
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 22, 2023
“[The injury is] not something you want to really mess around with,” Dubas said at the time to reporters. “So, unless he’s 100% sure this recovery time is going to allow that to settle and not be an issue, we have to do what’s right for his long-term health.”
“Obviously, he’s a father of two young children and a husband, and we have to make sure we’re doing right by him. As important as he is to us as a player, his health is paramount,” Dubas added.
Muzzin scored only one assist in four games this season before being sidelined with his injury, and the 2014 Stanley Cup champion with the LA Kings has been on the Leafs’ long-term injured reserve. He is signed through next season at a cap hit of $5.625 million.
Muzzin joined the Leafs in 2019 in exchange for Carl Grundstrom, the rights to defenseman Sean Durzi and a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft that became Tobias Bjornfot. He has played 187 games, scoring 18 goals and 81 points, but the Leafs have yet to advance past the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs during his tenure.
The Leafs currently sit second in the Atlantic Division, with 24 games remaining in the regular season and still have opportunities to make roster moves with the NHL’s trade deadline not until March 3.
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