Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner will miss his fourth and fifth consecutive games due to a high-ankle sprain.
Toronto head coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters following Monday’s practice that Marner will not join the team on their upcoming road trip.
The Maple Leafs visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday followed by the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
“Just trying to get him to the point that he’s comfortable throughout the week,” Keefe said. “He’s day-to-day away from being day-to-day.”
Marner was absent at Monday’s practice and Keefe added they’ll figure things out once he resumes skating.
“It hasn’t been responding the way that they had hoped, so just stepping back a little bit with it,” Keefe said.
Speaking from the NHL GM meetings in Florida, Brad Treliving said they thought the time frame for Marner might be one to two weeks.
“We’re being cautious with it,” Treliving told Sportsnet’s Sean Reynolds. “It’s nothing that we feel that is going to be long-term at all. Ramping Mitch up here this week and see how he responds, but we’re hopeful he’s going to be back sooner rather than later.”
Marner, who leads the team with 51 assists, has 76 points in 62 games this season.
Meanwhile, defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin is doubtful to join the trip as well as he missed Monday’s practice due to illness.
The 29-year-old from Moscow has registered two assists in seven games with the Maple Leafs since he was acquired from Anaheim (via Carolina) on Feb. 29 in a three-way deal.
Toronto (38-19-9) is third in the Atlantic Division with 85 points and has gone 2-0-1 during Marner’s absence.
