Maple Leafs place star Mitch Marner on long-term injured reserve

Mitch Marner has been recovering from the high-ankle injury he sustained a few weeks back against the Boston Bruins. It seems the Leafs used this recovery period to their advantage, placing him on LTIR to create cap space for calling up players before the playoffs.

This move comes after Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe initially diagnosed Marner's injury as "day-to-day."

To clarify, Marner's placement on long-term injured reserve is retroactive to March 7th, when he was first injured against the Boston Bruins.

The Maple Leafs emphasized that this move aims to provide the team with additional salary cap relief. This relief enables them to call up defenseman Marshall Rifai from the Toronto Marlies.

Under LTIR designation, a player must sit out a minimum of 24 days or 10 games due to injury. In Marner's case, he's nearly reached that threshold. Unless the team planned to use him in tonight's game against Buffalo, this move won't affect his eligibility to return to the lineup in the future.

As seen on Hockey Patrol
Toronto Maple Leafs place Mitch Marner on the LTIR