Marner was placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to March 7.

BUFFALO — The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Mitch Marner on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) for roster-related reasons, the club announced on Saturday morning. 

The club made a point to mention the move was done for roster management purposes retroactive to March 7. When a player is placed on LTIR, it requires a mandatory time of 10 games and 24 days off of the active roster before they can return. Marner will cross that threshold in time for the club's game after the one they have on Saturday on the road against the Buffalo Sabres.

In addition to Marner, the Leafs are fighting numerous injuries on their roster right now. With Morgan Rielly (upper-body injury), Joel Edmundson (undisclosed), Timothy Liljegren (upper-body injury) and Calle Jarnkrok (hand) all unavailable, the club has done a lot of roster juggling. They only have three healthy defensemen in their lineup and ideally wanted a seventh up for their one-game visit to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in the event someone else cannot play.

Toronto only had $547,499 available cap space according to add another player to their roster before Marner's placement on LTIR. Moving him to that spot allows them to call up Rifai without sending someone down or running the risk of losing another player on waivers.

"We're down to six defensemen and the way things have been going, it's important to have an additional guy," Keefe said of the call-up of Rifai. "He'll be in warm-up tonight."

Marner spoke to the media for the first time about his injury on Friday and did not want to get into any specifics about his reported high-ankle sprain.

Rifai made his NHL debut this season and has played in two games. 

The Maple Leafs are scheduled to hold a pre-game availability in Buffalo later this morning before taking on the Sabres where more details on the lineup are expected.

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