The Toronto Maple Leafs have suffered a handful of injuries to their blue line, and the 2022-2023 season hasn’t officially started yet. The list of injuries has piled up as the Leafs will be without Timothy Liljegren for several weeks with a sports hernia surgery, Jake Muzzin is day-to-day with back issues, and on Wednesday night, Jordie Benn and Carl Dahlstrom left the game.
The Leafs’ injury woes have them looking at Mitch Marner playing on the blue line as a depth option if it ever came down to it. On the other hand, Toronto has begun sniffing around the league to see who is available if it came down to it. This has led to the Leafs looking into a defenseman currently with the Boston Bruins for training camp.
According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Leafs have checked in on the availability of recent PTO signing Anton Stralman.
Unless the Bruins officially sign the veteran to the contract, he’s technically free to sign with any team while on a PTO. Earlier reports were that the Bruins were looking to possibly trade a left-shot defenseman, with Mike Reilly being the name that has been floated around, to make cap space for Stralman.
With the regular season quickly approaching, the Bruins may have to act fast if they want to keep the veteran defenseman. The 36-year-old provides veteran leadership and stability to a defensive core that will be missing two starters to begin the season. Stralman has looked like he has plenty left in the tank to help this Bruins team chase down another Stanley Cup.
