The Maple Leafs have placed winger Max Pacioretty on injured reserve due to a lower-body injury, per a team announcement. Pacioretty sustained the injury, which appeared to affect his left hamstring, after he fell awkwardly following a cross-check from Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson on Saturday.
He’s listed as week-to-week, a positive sign given that he needed help getting to the locker room after exiting the ice. As David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period notes, that timeline indicates it’s a pulled hamstring rather than a tear, which could have sidelined him for the rest of the season. As such, it’ll likely be a simple rehabilitation period for Pacioretty over the next few weeks without involving anything surgical.
That’s a welcome bit of news for Pacioretty, who’s been under the knife more than his fair share over the past few years. A pair of Achilles tears and a trio of surgeries limited him to 52 appearances over the last two seasons with the Hurricanes and Capitals. A PTO signing by the Leafs late in the summer, a successful training camp earned him a one-year, $1.5MM contract at the beginning of the month – one that likely had been agreed to in principle throughout his tryout.
Thus far, it’s been a worthy gamble from Leafs general manager Brad Treliving. Through 13 games, Pacioretty had two goals and four assists, although he’d gone without a point in his past five. He’d been scratched on a couple of occasions earlier in the season for load management purposes, although he’d played in eight straight games before getting hurt. Pacioretty had also worked his way up Toronto’s left-wing depth chart, recently skating in second-line minutes alongside John Tavares and William Nylander.
Pacioretty’s absence makes the recent reinstatement of Connor Dewar from long-term injured reserve all the more important. The 25-year-old was scratched against Montreal, but with Pacioretty unavailable, he’ll likely make his season debut tomorrow against the Senators, especially if captain Auston Matthews remains out with his upper-body injury. That’s possible after Matthews did not participate in today’s practice, per David Alter of The Hockey News.
The Maple Leafs will likely use Pacioretty’s vacated roster spot to activate defenseman Jani Hakanpää from LTIR. At the beginning of the month, he and Dewar both headed down to AHL Toronto on conditioning loans after offseason surgeries. While their activation didn’t come simultaneously, multiple reports indicate that Hakanpää was at practice with the NHL club this morning, signaling his Maple Leafs debut likely isn’t far away. They’ll have enough cap space, albeit by less than $500K, to remain compliant with Calle Järnkrok and Dakota Mermis still on LTIR. However, they’ll still need to free up roster spots when Matthews and Pacioretty are ready to return from their respective IR stints.
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