Maple Leafs place Jake McCabe on Injured Reserve with upper-body injury

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Monday that defenseman Jake McCabe has been placed on Injured Reserve (IR) with an upper-body injury, retroactive to Jan. 5.

The club also recalled defender Marshall Rifai from their AHL affiliate, the Toronto Marlies.

McCabe sustained the injury late in the first period of Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers during a fight with winger Garnet Hathaway. As the two were fighting, McCabe fell and appeared to hit his head upon impact with the ice, and was struggling to get back up after the fight.

He immediately went to the dressing room with assistance, and the Leafs confirmed that he was out for the rest of the game at the start of the second period.

McCabe also missed five games in December after taking a puck to the head on Nov. 30 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

McCabe left the game with a hit and seven penalty minutes that he received from the fight in 7:12 of ice time, with the Leafs up 2-1 at the time of his departure.

With McCabe out of the lineup, Simon Benoit has substituted him in the top four alongside Chris Tanev. The two have held the competition even in goals at 1-1 and have a 31.2% 5v5 expected goal share (xGF%) in 42:54 of ice time.

The Leafs will have to hope that McCabe won’t miss any significant time with this injury, as he’s been one of their best defensemen this season. Heading into Sunday’s game, he had 1 goal and 10 assists for 11 points in 35 games, as well as a 52.25% 5v5 xGF% that’s second among Leafs defensemen.