Brad Treliving exposes the severity of Mitch Marner's injury

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner has been unavailable since he suffered a lower body injury against the Boston Bruins on March 7, and he's been unable to play since.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe has already admitted the unfortunate news that Marner isn't responding the way that they'd hope to his treatment, and he could be out for longer than anticipated. But based on the comments made by general manager Brad Treliving, Marner could be back before too long.

"In all likelihood, it is a minor injury, but we want to be respectful of it," he said of Marner's ailment. "We have some time now. Mitch has been off the ice in the last couple of days, but we will ramp him up this week and take it day by day to see how he is feeling. Hopefully, he will be back sooner than later."

Treliving is with the rest of his general manager peers in West Palm Beach, Florida for the NHL GM meetings.

Keefe had the following report on Marner's condition, which was revealed to be a high ankle sprain:

"He's day to day from being day to day," he said. "That's where the (first) day-to-day comes," Keefe said. "It's just not responding the way they had hoped. They're just stepping back with it."

Marner is not the only Leafs player to suffer a high ankle sprain this season, as defenseman Timothy Liljegren went down with the same ailment after being tripped by Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand earlier in the schedule.

Marner is one of Toronto's leading scorers with 25 goals and 51 assists in the 62 games that he's been able to appear in this season. With the playoff chase still in full swing, the Leafs will want Marner back as soon as possible in order to maximize the best playoff position possible.

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