As injuries to the Toronto Maple Leafs defense piled up over the first quarter of the season, it was thought that general manager Brad Treliving must trade for help on the blue line.
First, Timothy Liljegren went down with a high-ankle sprain. Next, free agent acquisition John Klingberg was placed on LTIR and had season-ending hip surgery. The final blow was a broken finger suffered by Mark Giordano.
Three of the Leafs top six defensemen would be out for a significant amount of time. Already considered the weakest area of the team, disaster on the back end was expected.