The Toronto Maple Leafs are a Stanley Cup contender in 2025. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are about to start in around a week or so. Toronto is looking to overcome some postseason demons. But they may need to do so without defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, at least to start.

Ekman-Larsson played a team-high 25 minutes on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, he fell awkwardly into the boards around a minute and a half into overtime. He did not practice on Friday. The Maple Leafs designated him day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Ekman-Larsson's long-term injury status remains unclear. But we did learn more about his short-term status. Head coach Craig Berube said Friday that the veteran defenseman will not play Saturday, as reported by NHL.com. The Maple Leafs will take on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

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This has created a rough situation for Toronto. Due to roster limitations, Toronto is unable to call up another defenseman. As a result, the Maple Leafs will play this game with 17 skaters and only five defensemen.

“It's always challenging but we've played games where we've lost a defenseman early in the game and you play with five,” Berube said of the situation, via NHL.com. “It's important that our forwards do a good job of helping our defense out tomorrow night and making sure they get back quick for breakouts and make the game easy on them as much as possible, not getting extended shifts in the D-zone and tiring your defense out. That'll be a big part of the game.”

The Maple Leafs are in the driver's seat to win the Atlantic Division. Toronto entered play Friday with a three-point lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning atop the division. A win over the Canadiens on Saturday could certainly go a long way toward Toronto officially clinching a division championship in an 82-game season for the first time since 2000.