Leafs’ Nic Roy out with upper-body injury, no timeline for return

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without a key member of their bottom six forwards for the time being, as head coach Craig Berube told a group of reporters that included David Alter of The Hockey News that center Nicolas Roy will be sidelined indefinitely with an upper-body injury.

Roy, a 28-year-old center, last appeared in Saturday’s loss on the road in Chicago. The six-foot-four pivot is in the midst of his first season with the Maple Leafs, having come over from the Vegas Golden Knights in the sign-and-trade deal that facilitated Mitch Marner’s move to Vegas ahead of unrestricted free agency on July 1.

Last year in Vegas, Roy tallied 15 goals and 16 assists for 31 points in 71 games played, though he has not yet brought that level of production to his new club. Through his first 19 appearances in the blue and white, he’s scored just one goal and dished out three assists for four points while skating to a minus-4 rating on an average of 14:55 of time on ice per game.

Roy’s absence will put even more strain on Toronto’s center depth, as Auston Matthews is currently out, which has put Max Domi in the second-line center role. Steven Lorentz is currently centering the fourth line, and Scott Laughton is out as well, meaning Berube’s options down the middle are getting thin in a hurry.

The Maple Leafs are mired in an ugly slump, as they’ve lost five straight games to drop their record down to 8-9-2. In the Atlantic Division standings, they’re in seventh place ahead of just the Buffalo Sabres, the only other team in the Eastern Conference with a record below NHL .500.

Toronto has a chance to get things turned around this week, though, as they play host to a pair of other struggling squads in the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.