Jarnkrok has missed much of camp with a lingering lower-body injury.
Jarnkrok has missed much of camp with a lingering lower-body injury.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were always going to have to do some salary-cap gymnastics to field their roster.
Now we know how they did it.
The Maple Leafs utilized long-term injured reserve (LTIR) on three players. While Jani Hakanpaa being placed on the list wasn't a real surprise given the talk of his knee injury, moving Calle Jarnkrok to (LTIR) is a bit odd. Especially since Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube cited the player as day-to-day.
"Timetable, I don't know," Berube said.
Well, we now know that Hakanpaa and Jarnkrok will miss the first 11 games of the regular season. Players placed on long-term injured reserve must miss a minimum of 10 games and 24 days. The club's first eleven games fall in the team's first 24 days.
Maple Leafs defenseman Dakota Mermis will also miss the first 11 games after undergoing jaw surgery. The club previously announced the defender was out week-to-week.
The Leafs also placed Fraser Minten (lower-body) and Connor Dewar (shoulder) on injured reserve. While the Leafs don't get any cap relief from players being on injured reserve, it does open roster slots as the Leafs are only allowed to carry a maximum of 23 players on their active roster until the trade deadline.
This allowed the Maple Leafs to keep players like Timothy Liljegren, even though he's projected to start this season as a healthy scratch. Philippe Myers will stick around as a defensive option as well.
This guy competed hard in camp, in the games, in training camp and practices," Berube said of Myers. "A big guy, takes the body, he's got a good stick and, you know, blocking shots, penalty killing, things like that. So, you know, he impressed us."
By avoiding placing Dewar and Minten on long-term injured reserve, both players are only required to miss the first seven days of the season. Of course, players could be placed on LTIR retroactively, if required.
But those movements allowed for the Leafs to make room for Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz, who both signed one-year deals with the club after joining training camp on professional tryouts.
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