from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet,

To understand how quickly Jake Muzzin became part of the Toronto Maple Leafs fabric, it’s instructive to reflect on his uneasy beginning with the team.

"There’s no question about it: It’s not perfect, it’s what we got," former coach Mike Babcock said, infamously, on Muzzin’s first day with the Leafs a little more than a year ago. He was referencing the imbalance of left- and right-handed shots among the defence corps, but he just as easily could have been talking about how the defenceman felt amid the shock of his first NHL trade.

Those early days in Toronto were tough.

"I was living in a hotel with three dogs and a pregnant wife," Muzzin said recently. "Yeah, there was a lot of s––t going on."

Fast forward to the dark feeling hovering over the team after Wednesday’s announcement that the 31-year-old will be out approximately four weeks with a broken right hand.

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