As the Maple Leafs braved the bluster of winter for their annual outdoor public practice, another chill – the chill of knowing offensive cornerstone James van Riemsdyk would be sidelined for the next 6-8 weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his left foot – was settling in. But in his famously straight-ahead manner, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said the expectations in the dressing room and on the ice remain the same.
“We just move forward,” Babcock said Monday morning after the team’s outdoor practice before hundreds of delirious Buds fans in East York’s Dieppe Park.