The Toronto Maple Leafs placed defenceman Jake McCabe on injured reserve Monday after a scary fall during Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The incident happened in the final seconds of the first period during a fight with Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway. Hathaway crashed into Leafs goaltender Dennis Hildeby while driving to the net, and McCabe fell on top of the winger, driving him into the ice.
Both got to their feet dropping the gloves, with neither landing much in the way of punches. But as they fell to the ice, Hathaway fell atop McCabe, with the latters head appearing to hit the ice. While Hathaway got to his feet, McCabe struggled to get to his knees.
When he did, he fell backwards and was held up by teammate Morgan Rielly as the training staff came to his aid. McCabe left the ice skating on his own, but missed the remainder of the game.
After Sunday’s game, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said he didn’t have an update on McCabe.
Craig Berube says Jake McCabe suffered an upper-body injury but can’t provide further update beyond that. “It’s concerning, for sure. Like I said, I don’t like seeing it.”
— Arun Srinivasan (@Arunthings) January 6, 2025
Oilers remain sixth in Daily Faceoff power rankings
After a week that saw the Oilers go 3-0, they remained stagnant in Daily Faceoff’s weekly power rankings.
While the run was nice, Scott Maxwell and Mike Gould, who do the rankings, weren’t overly impressed.
Scott: The Oilers went a perfect 3-for-3 in their games last week, although they weren’t exactly playing tough competition in Utah, Anaheim and Seattle. That said, the Oilers have been staying out of headlines recently, and that’s probably about as much as you could want from them this season. They’ve just been churning along, getting the job done more often than not, and are cruising towards another playoff appearance.Mike: They don’t quite have the same depth as they did last year, but the Oilers still have the horses to go far. Leon Draisaitl has been amazing. But this team is just too top-heavy for my liking.
Other notes…
- A weird moment in the KHL from the other day, as Ak Bars Kazan forward Nikita Dynyak had his… phone fall out of his equipment mid-shift. While Dynyak played it off, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli called it unforgivable. “Look, I know it’s 2025 and the conversation is probably different nowadays but could you imagine if it was Mike Keenan or another legendary hard ass coach? Like it’s unforgiveable honestly, unless you’re like texting your wife or girlfriend and say their pregnant but even then you should give your phone to the trainer…”
- Former Calgary Flames executive and head coach Al MacNeil passed away Sunday at the age of 89, the team announced Monday. MacNeil played with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, later coaching the Flames when they arrived in Calgary joining the NHL. He spent 20 years with the team as an assistant general manager between 1985-86 and 2005-06.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, and senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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