Keefe says the forward skated on Thursday and Friday, but won't be in the lineup against the Hurricanes on Saturday.
Keefe says the forward skated on Thursday and Friday, but won't be in the lineup against the Hurricanes on Saturday.
Mitch Marner has skated the last two days, but won't be in the lineup when the Maple Leafs take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
The 26-year-old forward hasn't skated with the team since suffering a lower-body injury in a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Mar. 7. Marner left the game after falling on his right leg during the second period.
Although he skated on Friday, Marner was absent from Maple Leafs practice. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said there was no update on the forward aside from that he skated on Thursday and Friday.
"He won’t skate tomorrow then we have a day off," Keefe said. "[It will allow] a couple days for him to settle. Then sort of start to ramp it back up for next week."
TSN's Darren Dreger reported on Thursday that Marner suffered a high-ankle sprain in the game against Boston. Dreger said that although it could've been problematic, "the Toronto Maple Leafs believe it's very minor."
Keefe was asked on Friday about whether Marner in fact did suffer a high-ankle sprain, and if it's a coincidence that there's been several of those types of injuries with the Maple Leafs this season.
Toronto's head coach didn't reveal whether the forward has a high-ankle sprain, but did say that these injuries are just a coincidence.
"I would say it's a coincidence, yes," Keefe said. "Hockey is a sport where these occur."
With Marner out and Calle Jarnkrok also suffering an injury on Thursday night in Philadelphia, the Maple Leafs opted to change the lineup once again, putting Pontus Holmberg and Tyler Bertuzzi on Auston Matthews' wing.
"You look at our lineup in practice that we had today, that's sort of my response to it," Keefe said of filling the void of to right-shot forwards in Marner and Jarnkrok. "You got speed and skill. (Nick) Robertson and (Noah) Gregor, and Gregor on the penalty kill, Robertson on the power play.
"You're just trying to have a more versatile lineup to go with the opponent that we have tomorrow night that's going to be four lines deep and scoring spread out over four lines is much or more so than anybody in the league.
"It's a night where we're going to need four lines."
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