TORONTO -- Watching from high above the ice, Mark Fraser knew almost immediately that David Clarkson was in trouble.
When he and his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates saw Clarkson jump over the bench to join the brawl with the Buffalo Sabres, Fraser figured a suspension was coming. The NHL gave Clarkson an automatic 10-game suspension, just as everyone expected.
"It's just one of the rules," Fraser said. "It's just an unfortunate circumstance, but we'll all take the reality of it for what it is."
The reality is that the Leafs now face major roster questions at the start of the regular season.
They'll have to find a way to replace Clarkson and possibly Phil Kessel in the lineup Oct. 1 at Montreal without the aid of extra cap space because the salaries of suspended players continue to count against it.
Coach Randy Carlyle also has to factor in player injury issues as he adjusts his lineup.
Injuries to Frazer McLaren (broken finger), Colton Orr (leg bone bruise) and Dave Bolland (groin) complicate the situation for the cap-strapped Leafs. But Carlyle expects Bolland to play again during the pre-season.
Even assuming Bolland is ready for the season opener, Clarkson's suspension opens up a spot for someone like Trevor Smith, Troy Bodie or Carter Ashton. Considering the bevy of unknowns, it's possible all three could be in the lineup in Montreal.
"When somebody's out of the lineup, there's an opportunity for somebody else to fill that spot," Carlyle said. "We have young kids that have had (an) extended number of games in the exhibition schedule here, and we're going to continue to take a look at them."
If Kessel, who was set to have a disciplinary hearing with the NHL on Tuesday afternoon, is also suspended, Toronto would be without two players on the right side. Carlyle pointed to players like Josh Leivo and Jamie Devane as possibilities, adding that he hadn't asked Mason Raymond about playing right wing.
"We've got a shortage of right-wingers right now, it seems," he said. "It's been a little bit more of a challenge ... (but) there are people that can go in there."
Raymond, who signed a $1-million, one-year deal Monday after he went to camp on a professional tryout, said he played all three forward positions at times while with the Vancouver Canucks. The speedy winger's versatility could prove valuable to the Leafs in the first month of the season.
"There's advantages and disadvantages, I think, to both sides," Raymond said. "I don't think it's too much to adjust to. It's a lot of communication between your teammates and yourself in your end on who's the first guy back. But I wouldn't see that being a problem."
It would be a bigger problem if the Leafs are pressed into a situation that includes three or four AHL-level players in the opening-night lineup. But they could be facing just that after Sunday night's brawl.
Teammates refused to blame Clarkson for leaving the bench to come to the aid of Kessel, who was being challenged by six-foot-eight Sabres forward John Scott.
"It's everyone's initial reaction to get out there and help a teammate, especially a player like Phil, who I don't know if he's ever been in a fight in the NHL," winger Joffrey Lupul said. "But it's also our jobs to try and win on Oct. 1 here, so we can't have a bunch of guys getting lengthy suspensions."
Clarkson is believed to be considering an appeal of the 10-game suspension, which is perhaps why he hasn't spoken to reporters since the incident because any comments could be used against him.
The NHLPA already filed an appeal on behalf of Phoenix Coyotes enforcer Paul Bissonnette, according to his agent Mark Guy, who did not say what the grounds of the appeal were. Bissonnette was given the same automatic ban for leaving the bench to join an altercation.
Fraser, the Leafs' NHLPA representative, said Clarkson understood there's a consequence for what he did. Fraser defended his teammate based on the notion that he did it "in his best intentions to serve the team."
"I guess you would liken it to the schoolyard if somebody's picking on your brother. In your family, you fight me, you fight your family," Carlyle said. "It's one of the situations where you're going to defend your teammate. David Clarkson understands that what he did and the timing of it was wrong, and that we're held accountable to that and maybe a better decision would've been best applied. But it's happened, now we live on."
Kessel's situation wasn't as black and white.
After Toronto's Jamie Devane beat up smaller Sabres winger Corey Tropp, Scott dropped the gloves to fight Kessel on the ensuing faceoff. Kessel slashed Scott in the lower leg before other players moved in.
Naturally, the Leafs saw Scott as the agitator.
"You don't expect one of the top-five toughest guys, biggest guys, in the NHL to do something like that," Lupul said. "I've never seen that in all the years I've played. It's pretty embarrassing for him."
Embarrassing, perhaps, based on hockey's so-called fighters' code. But Scott didn't do anything to warrant supplemental discipline.
Clarkson did and won't be able to make his Leafs debut until Oct. 25, but that didn't earn him any scorn in his own locker-room.
"It's unfortunate, we don't wish that it would've happened that way because we don't want to lose a guy, any of our players, whether it be to injury or suspension," Fraser said. "Guys are also, I guess, proud that one another will stick up for one another. We don't necessarily want it to maybe be in that scenario but, regardless, guys are going to be here for one another."
