If Sanderson can't go, the load falls back on Thomas Chabot. He was just named captain, and he handled the top-pair minutes before Sanderson took that job over. That's a real fallback, not a disaster. But it means a thinner Ottawa blue line against a Toronto team playing in front of its own crowd on opening night, and Ottawa is already without Artem Zub, who's on the injured non-roster list.
Up front there's better news. Warren Foegele skated with Drake Batherson and Tim Stützle on the top line at practice. That was the first time he'd been slotted into a forward line since getting hurt, and Travis Green said he's hopeful Foegele dresses Saturday. Andre Burakovsky won't. The veteran Ottawa got from Chicago is out this weekend with an upper-body injury, though he was slotted for bottom-six minutes anyway. Ottawa's depth takes a hit, but the top of the lineup is fine.
For Toronto, opening at home against Ottawa is about as friendly a start to the year as the schedule could hand them. The Leafs haven't put anyone on the board's injury list, so this is mostly about whether Toronto can make a short-handed Ottawa defense chase the puck all night. Check the lineups on Saturday morning. Whether Sanderson plays decides how this game looks more than anything else will.