Strip it Down: Injury Bug Bites Toronto Maple Leafs at Awkward Time

Usually the injury bug bites when things are promising: The Toronto Blue Jays were bitten throughout the entire season last year and—with how well their pitching did—there's no telling what kind of damage they could have done if they had just stayed healthy.

Now, the Maple Leafs are being hit with the epidemic to the infirmary (whether it makes sense or not, it sounds cool doesn't it?) at one of the best, or worst times of the season.

How this affects the team is all in your outlook of whether they should or shouldn't go for the playoffs.

If you're one of the few believers, then the bug is something that devastates you. Mats Sundin is out for the weekend with a groin injury, Nik Antropov is out at least a week with torn cartilage in his knee, and Carlo Colaiacovo is out for the rest of the regular season (or four to six weeks—whichever comes first) with a torn groin.

How can you expect the Leafs, who have played some stellar hockey the past few weeks, to continue competing for a playoff spot without three key components?

Ok, so Carlo Colaiacovo isn't exactly a key cog in the Toronto playoff machine, but since coming back from his second knee injury this season, he had six points—not much, but it's something.

Sidenote: For all the potential that Carlo shows on the ice, a vast amount of it seems untapped. I mean he skates well, he's not afraid to throw the body around (or wasn't until he missed that check last year in Ottawa), and he can put up some points from the back-end, but imagine how much better he could be if you were to get, oh I don't know, sixty games from this guy? For someone who was once tauted as the "Next great Maple Leafs' offensive defenseman" back in 2001, he's fallen pretty far hasn't he?

But then what happens if you're one of the fans who's begging for this team to start throwing games, and you were nearly peeing your pants out of excitement that Vesa Toskala's blunder on Tuesday would be the echo to get the Leafs avalanche crashing to the bottom of the standings.

Basically you're hoping that Pavel Kubina runs in to Vesa Toskala behind the net, that Dominic Moore suddenly remembers that he's Dominic Moore, and Paul Maurice pays Fat Tony to drag Tomas Kaberle off into the Springfield Mystery Spot (or Zone, or whatever it was called) so that this team can get back into the Surge for Stamkos.

So what do you do if you're a Leafs fan? Well there's a few things you can do:

1) You can hope that the entire team falls apart and misses the playoffs, while dropping back into the top-five seeds in the draft.

2) You can pray that the players that aren't hurt rally around their fallen comrades and make a push for the playoffs.

Or you can combine the two. Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen—there's a door number three and it is:

Note: If you're a Marlies fan, then stop reading for a bit. Your team is doing well, but the following solution WILL ruin you. 

Hope that the players on the parent club continue to fall to injury, so that the callups from the Marlies keep mounting. Then the callups will be so concerned with ensuring themselves of a spot on the roster next season, that they'll perform to their highest level, carrying this team to the playoffs.

Sure it may result in a first round exit, and you obviously lose that top-five pick by playing your way into the playoffs, but think about it: Say you've got a couple defensive pairings and one or two forward lines that played well enough to get you to the playoffs. It's no Steve Stamkos, but I think that kind of performance would give Leafs fans a little confidence in the future.

And to be honest with you, I'm starting to really like the look of door number three. 

(Marlies fans can come back now...thanks for...not reading) 

But I forgot, there's also a door number four—but that's just having them coast into a crummy draft pick in the 10-15 range while finishing a couple of points away from a playoff spot. Sounds strangely familiar.

But really, even though the Leafs are having a little bit of a difficult time battling the injury bug, you can find solace in the fact that, whether they make the playoffs or not, the injuries are helping to shape this club for the future, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Oh, and if that didn't make you feel better: At least we don't have a goaltender who has two trick-hips that have resulted in surgeries the past two years while he's locked into a fifteen-year contract.

Until we trade for him that is.