Toronto's Tyson Barrie leaves the game after being sent head first into the boards.

This could very well turn out to be a catastrophe for the Toronto Maple Leafs. 

For days now we have been hearing that Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas has been taking calls, or even attempting to actively trade, regarding Maple Leafs defenseman Tyson Barrie and those rumors have gained more and more steam has we have drawn closer and closer to the NHL trade deadline. In fact Barrie shot way up on TSN's trade bait list earlier today, jumping all the way up to the #5 spot indicating that the NHL's top insiders felt that he was very likely to be moved ahead of the deadline indeed.

That may have all come crashing down just moments ago however courtesy of Carolina Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov. Svechnikov were engaged in a race for the puck, one that Barrie had won rather comfortably, but the Russian forward was not going to give up and instead he followed Barrie closely right into the corner. Unfortunately for Barrie and the Leafs Svechnikov followed him a little too closely and as Barrie pulled up to stop his forward momentum he was drilled from behind by Svechnikov, a move that sent Barrie crashing head first into the boards. 

It looked very bad initially as Barrie quickly curled up into the fetal position. Although Barrie did manage to get to his feet rather quickly things looked even worse when he finally did get to his feet due to the fact that he immediately showed signs of the fact that he was very likely injured. Barrie's arm hung limp at his side and he was clutching at his shoulder on the very same side, indicating that either his arm or his shoulder, and not his head, had taken the worst of the beating from Svechnikov and the boards. Barrie would immediately make his way to the locker room and that is not a good sign when you are trying to trade the player, and with only 2 days left on the calendar in order to make that trade a reality. 

No doubt any trade will no hinge on whether or not Barrie is seriously injured and who knows if we will get an answer on that before Monday's deadline.

Update: Crisis averted for the Maple Leafs as Barrie, in spite of looking like he was in very bad shape, is back out for the 2nd period. It will be interesting to see if Svechnikov will face any additional discipline for his actions this evening.