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Maple Leafs place Max Pacioretty on IR, recall Marshall Rifai from Marlies

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Max Pacioretty’s injury history continues to catch up with him.

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The Maple Leafs placed the veteran forward on injured reserve on Friday morning, the latest setback in the 2024-25 season for the 36-year-old forward.

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Pacioretty has been dealing with an undisclosed issue since last Wednesday when he tweaked something before practice. He hasn’t played since Feb. 8 in the Leafs’ last game prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Part of the issue, too, is that the Leafs needed another defenceman with Chris Tanev (upper body) unavailable for the game on Friday night in New York against the Rangers. As such, the team recalled D-man Marshall Rifai from the Toronto Marlies.

Rifai played in two games for the Leafs last season.

Pacioretty has missed 21 of the Leafs’ 58 games because of various injuries. When the Leafs signed him in October after Pacioretty was invited to training camp on a professional tryout, the club knew that there was the risk of further injuries.

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Achilles heel tears limited Pacioretty to a total of 52 games in the past two seasons with Carolina and Washington.

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In 37 games with Toronto, Pacioretty has five goals and eight assists. He has been lauded for his physical play and, despite missing as many games as he has, he is fourth on the Leafs in hits with 105.

Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, meanwhile, confirmed that Igor Shesterkin will start in goal. In 10 career games versus the Leafs, Shesterkin has a record of 6-2-2 with a .924 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average.

The status of three integral Rangers — forwards J.T. Miller (missed practice on Thursday with illness) and Chris Kreider (upper body) and defenceman K’Andre Miller (lower body) — will be a game-time decisions.

More to come …

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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