Kirill Marchenko headed to the Maple Leafs dressing room Monday night in Calgary after taking an awkward fall on an earlier shift.
He tried to give it a go. It lasted one shift, and he came off immediately.
Between those shifts, the Russian forward was stretching his left lower leg over and over. That's never a good sign.
Toronto can't afford to lose him. Marchenko has 14 points through 13 games, third-most on the team.
Four of his six goals have come on the power play.
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And he's doing it on a $3,850,000 cap hit, which makes him one of the better bargains in the lineup.
Kirill Marchenko heads to Leafs room after awkward fall, with Tavares and Tanev already out
John Tavares is already on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, expected out until at least Nov. 27.
Chris Tanev and Marshall Rifai are on IR as well, both expected out until at least Oct. 31.
Losing another scorer now would be like a band losing its bass player right before the tour bus pulls out.
Trying to play through it says plenty about his character. But Jim Hiller should shut him down if there's any doubt at all.
The Leafs walked into Calgary on a four-game win streak, and Marchenko had five points in his last five games.
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So who picks up the slack on the power play?
Auston Matthews and William Nylander each have three power-play goals. Marchenko has four.
Easton Cowan, with 12 points of his own, is the obvious internal candidate to absorb more minutes.
Seattle comes Wednesday, then Vancouver on Saturday. If No. 86 misses time, Hiller has to reshuffle a forward group that's already without its veteran center.
And John Chayka's search for a defenseman might not be the only shopping he has to do.
Should Kirill Marchenko sit out Wednesday's game in Seattle?
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