Tuesday was a good news-bad news day for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but only in relative terms.
On one hand, a further examination and a magnetic-resonance-imaging test confirmed defenceman Pavel Kubina's left knee injury was only a strain of his medial-collateral ligament. He will be out of the lineup for about four weeks.
On the other hand, the Leafs are afraid defenceman Andy Wozniewski's separated shoulder will keep him out for the rest of the National Hockey League season, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Wozniewski will be in Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday to have his shoulder examined by renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews.
As for Kubina, one of the Leafs' two big free-agent signings on defence, Toronto general manager John Ferguson said last night that "no surgery will be required" after receiving the results of the player's visit to a knee specialist. Kubina was injured in Monday night's 2-1 shootout win over the Florida Panthers.
"Correct," Ferguson said when it was suggested the Leafs dodged a bullet with the Kubina injury. He declined to comment in detail about Wozniewski's injury.
Kubina was injured when he collided with Panthers forward Todd Bertuzzi and fell to the ice. There was speculation Kubina may have caught his skate in a rut in the poor ice at the Air Canada Centre, helping cause the injury, but there is no direct evidence of that.
The ice has been an issue at the arena since it opened in 1999. The players are not happy with it, since the ice is brittle and tends to chip. Poor ice has been an issue throughout the NHL for years, ever since multipurpose arenas came into use in the 1980s.
The constant changeovers from hockey configurations for other sports events and concerts damages the ice. No solution has been found, despite many attempts by the NHL and its teams.
As for a solution to Kubina's absence, Ferguson said the Leafs have not made a roster move.
In the short term, it is likely Wade Belak will move back to defence from forward for Thursday's game in New Jersey against the Devils. Alexander Suglobov will go back into the lineup to replace Belak at forward.
After that, the Leafs could call up either Brad Brown or Marc Moro from the Toronto Marlies farm team to fill in. Of the four young defencemen who are injured, only Brendan Bell (ankle) is close to coming back.
