The Toronto Maple Leafs have retroactively moved forward Mitch Marner to LTIR on Saturday. The move was made to create the cap space needed to recall Marshall Rifai and his $775,000 cap hit. Toronto now has a total of $27,465,500 placed in LTIR relief.
There’s been no change in Marner’s injury situation. This move merely enables the Leafs to summon an additional defenseman for tonight’s game in Buffalo. The team badly needed a defenseman as they are being decimated by injuries on the blue line. Morgan Rielly, Joel Edmundson, and Timothy Liljegren are all out. Marner will sit out his 10th consecutive game tonight, making him eligible to come back from LTIR as early as Monday (although it’s highly likely to be later).
As far as his return and recovery goes, Marner wasn’t thrilled while speaking with the media about it this week. Originally pegged as a day-to-day injury, when Marner was asked Friday about his status and if he could explain how he got hurt during the Bruins game, he responded:
I’ve been watching every game. You guys have been talking about it every single game. I think you guys can say whatever you want. It’s behind me now. Stuff happened and you just go on from it.
While the media has been calling it a high-ankle sprain, he didn’t confirm that’s what the issue was and Marner seems frustrated that the media wants to keep talking about it. That it’s getting so much coverage and he’s not able to play has annoyed him. That said, he looked good in practice and there should be no further delays.
Maple Leafs Will Be Happy to Have Marner Back
It’s not entirely clear where Marner will slot into the lineup when he returns, but the Leafs will be happy to have him back. He’s an integral part of their team and the sooner he’s back in the lineup, the sooner the roster can take advantage of his playmaking abilities and find some line consistency as the playoffs near.
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