Maple Leafs move Nick Robertson, Victor Mete to LTIR

The Maple Leafs have been using long-term injured reserve all season long and they’ve now added to that group as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve transferred winger Nick Robertson and defenseman Victor Mete onto LTIR.  They join defensemen Morgan Rielly and Jake Muzzin as players on there.

Robertson has been out for the last three weeks with a shoulder injury and he’s expected to be out at least three more.  Toronto would have back-dated his placement to the original injury (December 8th) so he has almost already served the ten games and 24 days required.  Robertson has two goals and three assists in 15 games with the Maple Leafs so far this season.

As for Mete, he has missed the last three weeks with a lower-body injury so he also isn’t that far off from being eligible to return.  The 24-year-old has played in 11 games so far with the big club, picking up two assists while logging a little more than 13 minutes per night.

The placements add just shy of $1.6MM to Toronto’s LTIR pool and per CapFriendly, they currently have about $7.85MM of that available.  However, Rielly accompanied the team on their three-game road trip and is believed to be nearing a return.  These placements will make it easier for the Maple Leafs to activate their top blueliner once he’s ready to return.