It's been a long few weeks for the Toronto Maple Leafs and injured winger Mitch Marner, after a high-ankle sprain against the Boston Bruins on March 7th derailed his season and forced him to the sidelines. At the time, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had told the media that Marner's injury wasn't as bad as it initially appeared and that he was "day-to-day from being day-to-day". That was 3 weeks ago. Now, Marner's saga has taken a new turn, with the 26-year-old winger landing on LTIR on Saturday.
The Leafs announced on Saturday morning that they had placed Marner on Long-Term Injured Reserve, retroactive to March 7th. In a corresponding move, the team has also recalled rookie defenseman Marshall Rifai from the AHL's Toronto Marlies. The team mentioned in a post on Twitter/X on Saturday that the move was for "roster management purposes".
NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman was very quick to point out a few moments after the original announcement that this roster move is very much tied to the salary cap and that Marner is eligible to be activated from LTIR tomorrow with the intention of having him return to the lineup at some point this coming week.
This falls in line with a report directly from Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe this week, confirming that the plan for Marner is to get him into the team's next practice, which is scheduled to occur on Tuesday, before re-integrating him into the lineup. Keefe stated that he wants Marner to get back up to speed in competitive situations prior to re-joining the team, meaning that he'll likely miss Monday's game against Florida.
