Rumor: Catastrophe in goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs may suddenly find themselves in a very tough spot,  and we are only two games into the regular season thus far.

Earlier this morning, veteran goaltender Matt Murray was spotted leaving practice with an apparent injury after a video published online showed the two-time Stanley Cup champion leaving the ice in some discomfort.

Having a goaltender get injured is never going to be an ideal scenario, but the timing could not possibly have come at a worse moment for the Maple Leafs. The Leafs are scheduled to take on provincial rivals the Ottawa Senators later tonight on Saturday evening and if Murray is in fact injured the Maple Leafs have a real catastrophe on their hands. While Ilya Samsonov will now unquestionably be the starter for tonight's game against the Senators, there is a real question to be asked about who will fill in as a backup.

Normally in this scenario the Leafs would be able to turn to the American Hockey League and their affiliate team, the Toronto Marlies, potentially calling up goaltender Erik Kallgren to fill in for Murray if he is indeed unable to play. That won't be the case this evening though, given that Kallgren has also been injured, in this case after he was on the wrong end of a big collision on Friday night.

This now leaves the Maple Leafs, who are also right up against the National Hockey League salary cap, in a very precarious position. The only other goaltender the Maple Leafs currently have under contract is 21 year old Dennis Hildeby. Hildeby was selected in the 4th round (122nd overall) of this year's NHL Entry Draft and is currently playing in the Swedish Hockey League, which would make getting him ready for tonight's game somewhat difficult, and that's only if the Leafs are even willing to consider that option.

Making matters even worse, as if it wasn't bad enough already, the Leafs are already at the NHL's 50 contract limit which only further complicates this potentially catastrophic scenario.

There's no way to predict how the Maple Leafs will navigate this latest headache that has come there way, but it should be very interesting to see how general manager Kyle Dubas and his team find a way out of this predicament.