While the Maple Leafs may have caught a break with Ekman-Larsson, who appears to be a game-time decision for Saturday’s tilt against the Edmonton Oilers despite the considerable amount of pain he was in when he was hurt, Mermis’ injury is going to keep him on the shelf for a while. And although he’s not a starter when the Leafs are at full health, him being out of the lineup erases another depth option for the team while the likes of Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo work their way back to game form. Regardless of whether or not Ekman-Larsson misses any games, it’s time for the Maple Leafs to give Marshall Rifai a shot.

Rifai himself has been on the shelf all season and has yet to play a game for the Maple Leafs or the Toronto Marlies. He underwent wrist surgery in training camp f0llowing an injury in a preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens which kept him out of action for the first few months of the season. Head coach Craig Berube provided a positive update on Rifai at practice on Friday, saying the 27-year-old defenceman is nearing a return.

Rifai may not have the NHL experience to prove it, but he plays the style of game that Berube and most head coaches appreciate. He’s sturdy, he works his tail off, he’s strong defensively and he’ll stick up for his teammates. He won’t provide much in the way of offence, but he’s not the type of player you’ll see the camera panned to after a bad goal against and you won’t hear his name that often. For a defenceman with limited NHL experience, this is a good thing.

“He had some games up with us last year and he worked so hard,” captain Auston Matthews said of Rifai during training camp last season. “You can just see he wants it and continues to progress, and I’ve been pretty impressed with him and the way he plays hard on both sides of the puck.”

Rifai initially won over the hearts of Maple Leafs fans after he fought Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky in a dramatic preseason game that featured all sorts of theatrics. In one of the acts, Rifai caught Canadiens prospect David Reinbacher with a seemingly harmless hit that took the rookie out of the game, which prompted Slafkovsky to seek retribution for his teammate later on.

Of course, dropping the gloves in a preseason game isn’t enough to justify him getting playing time, which is why it’s more of a secondary trait to his sturdy defensive play.

With Tanev and Carlo sidelined, the Leafs’ mainstays are Morgan Rielly, Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Troy Stecher. Lately, Berube has seemed to enjoy playing Ekman-Larsson with Rielly and Stecher with McCabe, leaving Rifai as a candidate for playing time alongside Simon Benoit, Philippe Myers, and Henry Thrun. Benoit likely gets the immediate nod of any other of these players simply due to the experience he has under his belt.

The eye test and analytics have shown that the Benoit-Myers pair does not work, so at bare minimum, Rifai should be ahead of Myers on the depth chart when he’s at full health. At that point, you could give both Thrun and Rifai a look and let whichever player stands out more have a little run to see if they can make anything of it. And really, Benoit shouldn’t be exempt from a scratch every now and then should Rifai and Thrun both demonstrate the ability to play a trustworthy game.

Rifai only has two games of NHL experience and didn’t get into any games last year, but it’s always been a matter of having an abundance of players. A 27-year-old player without NHL experience is going to be hard-pressed to secure a job over younger options or older ones with more experience, but with the state of the Leafs’ defensive corps right now, Rifai plays the type of low-event, minimal risk game that can stabilize things a little bit. There may not be room for him at full health, but at minimum he’s earned the opportunity to get a look and try to leave a lasting impression on his coaching staff.

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