SPORTSNET.CA

An injury-plagued season for Mike Van Ryn got even worse when the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman found out he will be out for the remainder of the season with a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee.

Van Ryn suffered the injury in the first period of Toronto's 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. About a minute-and-a-half into the game, he got tangled up with Oilers winger Marc-Antoine Pouliot near the boards in Toronto's defensive zone and had to be helped off the ice by teammates.

The injury, which the Leafs initially feared was a lot worse, will keep Van Ryn out eight weeks in total.

Concussion problems and a previous lower-body injury has forced the London, Ontario native to miss long stretches of games -- nine, 13 and 16 games -- this season. He has appeared in only 27 games in his first campaign with the Leafs.

Toronto acquired Van Ryn in an off-season trade with the Panthers that sent Bryan McCabe and a 2010 fourth-round draft pick to Florida.