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Mitch Marner insists he’s still pals with the Leaf who gave him a friendly fire injury.
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The high-scoring forward banged up his shoulder in a Dec. 3 practice when he and much bigger defenceman Jake Muzzin got signals crossed and collided during a drill. TV cameras caught their comments and animated gestures about who was to blame for the mishap before the sore Marner stalked off to the dressing room. He hasn’t played since and had to go on LTIR.
But in Monday’s first comments since the injury, Marner insisted he and Muzzin are past it.
“You can ask Jake, he’s one of my best friends on the team,” Marner said. “We exchanged some words about it, now it’s back to lovin’ each other and just joke around about it, Obviously, no one wants to hurt their teammate. It was an unlucky bounce, that’s all there really was to it.”
Marner is glad to be back in the saddle and scored on a line with Auston Matthews in Monday’s scrimmage.
“We’re excited. It’s been a long time since I was on the ice with these guys,” he said.
Muzzin is now out, one of the remaining Leafs trying to get through COVID-19 protocol for Saturday’s game against Ottawa.
“Everyone’s trying to do the right things (to prevent another outbreak) and do the right things when they go home,” Marner said. “One way or another, (the pandemic) was going to hit and our team and our doctors handled it perfectly.”
