Maple Leafs' Max Pacioretty: Shifts to long-term injured reserve

Pacioretty (undisclosed) was placed on long-term injured reserve Friday, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports.

Pacioretty will need to miss at least three more games before he's eligible to be activated from LTIR. This puts his earliest possible return date as March 15 versus the Senators, though the Maple Leafs are also playing a tricky game with the salary cap after the trade deadline. Even when Pacioretty is healthy, he's unlikely to see more than bottom-six minutes.