Toronto Maple Leafs’ Mark Giordano close to return from broken finger injury
Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Giordano is close to a return to the lineup after recovering from his broken finger, according to Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Mark Giordano is "definitely close" to returning to the #Leafs lineup after suffering a broken finger in late November, says Sheldon Keefe.
"We'll get him a practice day tomorrow, a full practice day with the group, and make a decision from there."
Giordano, 40, suffered his injury on November 28th against the Florida Panthers, and has spent the last month recovering from it. They’ve gone 6-2-3 during his absence, while also dealing with injuries on the blueline to Timothy Liljegren and Connor Timmins, as well as John Klingberg who will be out for the remainder of the season.
Giordano has had a bit of a slow start to his season offensively, with just a goal and four assists for five points in 20 games. That pace would give him just 20 points in a full 82-game season, which would be the fewest points he’s had in a non-shortened season since the 2008-09 season when he had 19 in 58 games.
However, Giordano’s still been effective defensively, especially on the penalty kill. Since the start of the 2020-21 season, he leads all defensemen in shorthanded defensive goals above replacement with 7.6.
Giordano was an undrafted free agent signing by the Calgary Flames in 2005 after he had spent a season with their AHL affiliate. Outside of a brief stint in the KHL in 2007-08 season, he spent the next 16 years with the Flames, including eight as the captain of the team, and won a Norris Trophy in 2018-19 before he was selected by the Seattle Kraken in the expansion draft in 2021. After spending part of that season there as the team’s first captain in franchise history, he was traded to the Maple Leafs at the trade deadline in 2022, where he’s since spent parts of three seasons with.
Giordano is currently in the final year of his two-year contract with an $800,000 cap hit, and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season.
The Leafs will look to make it two wins in a row on Wednesday night as they host the Ottawa Senators at 7 p.m. EST. They currently sit in second in the Atlantic Division with a 17-8-6 record, and are only four points behind the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the division with a game in hand.