Maple Leafs' Mark Giordano Diagnosed with Concussion and Will Miss 'Some Time' After Crashing Into Boards Against Coyotes

It appears as though Mark Giordano will miss time after going hard into the boards on Thursday night.

The 40-year-old defenseman crashed into the boards hard during the first period in what was just his fourth shift of the game on Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes. He stayed down for a few minutes before being helped off the ice by Morgan Rielly and a trainer.

Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, after the game, said Giordano had suffered a head injury but didn't know the extent of it. Following Toronto's practice on Friday, Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving met with the media, where he revealed that the defenseman had suffered a concussion. 

"He's going to be out some time. We have, or we will, be placing him on injured reserve. He was concussed," Treliving said. 

"He's doing better today. But as any of these, he's in the protocol and we'll just see how things respond over the course of the next few of days. But he's going to miss some time."

To say Giordano has had a tough month would be an incredible understatement. The veteran defender has missed five of Toronto's last seven games due to the sudden passing of his father.

And to then suffer a concussion in what was just his second game back is yet another unfortunate blow.

"He was in rough shape last night. We had a good chat today. I think everybody in the building [last night] caught their breath a little bit. He went in hard and he was out for a little bit," Treliving said.

"But he was doing better after the game, and then you compound that on with what he's gone through in the last month, it's been tough. But he's doing well today. You feel for him. He's a good, good man, and he's gone through a lot here in the last few weeks."

Giordano, this season, has averaged the fifth-most ice time of any defenseman on the Maple Leafs, playing around 16:41 per game. He has one goal and six assists in 38 games this season.

A few hours after the game, the Maple Leafs made a trade, acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks. It was a deal that some might've thought was because of Giordano's injury, but matter of fact, it had nothing to do with the veteran's ailment at all.

"[Giordano's injury] really didn't speed up the process. I think we'd done the deal before the game had started, so unfortunate," Treliving said on Friday. "But the other piece of this is, you anticipate that you're not going to be healthy. Our blueline hasn't been healthy all year, that's the nature of the beast.

"Even when you get through the deadline, you've got a few weeks until the end of the regular season and you can never have too many defensemen. You just can't if you want to get to where you want to get to."

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