Matthew Knies joins a long list of injured Leafs that has had a trickle-down effect on the rest of the lineup.

Some new lines for the Maple Leafs could indicate that the team is attempting to showcase veteran forward Max Domi ahead of the trade deadline. On Wednesday, we saw the Maple Leafs get thumped by the Columbus Blue Jackets,

“Currently in possession of a more favorable offensive opportunity with John Tavares out of the Maple Leafs’ lineup due to injury, Max ... but Domi says this team led by Auston Matthews ...

Toronto forward Max Pacioretty has been ruled out for the Maple Leafs' game Monday night against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning because of an upper-body injury.

Jared Spurgeon scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the first period and the visiting Minnesota Wild went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Losers of three straight and starved for offense, some new statistics show that the Leafs need to make a trade to add some firepower if they want any success.

Pacioretty missed the last three games after taking a puck to the head in a game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz was a partial participant in Friday’s practice, departing before line rushes started. It was Stolarz’s first practice since suffering a knee injury on December 12 against the Anaheim Ducks.

Identifying the holes in the Leafs' lineup is fairly straightforward. Patching them at the trade deadline? Much less so.

Before the first goal, defenceman Morgan Rielly put up little resistance behind the Toronto net, losing a battle for the puck with Wild forward Jakub Lauko. The latter centred to Marat Khusnutdinov, who snapped the puck past an unprepared Woll at 7:07.

The sub-par hockey caught up to the Leafs on Wednesday night, when their loss to the Minnesota Wild, coupled with the Florida Panthers’ win against the Los Angeles Kings, dropped the Leafs to second place in the Atlantic Division, one point back of the defending Stanley Cup-champion Panthers.

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.