To a casual observer, Mitch Marner looked just fine on Wednesday.
The star winger was one of the few Maple Leafs to skate at the Ford Performance Centre, and from the way he was moving his feet and using his edges, he appeared to be on the cusp of returning to the lineup.
“The hope or plan was that we could get him going to be able to practise on Friday,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “I don’t expect him to be available or even to consider him playing this week. But he looked really good out there. And his progress looks to be good. He’s in a good place. We just have to continue to build him up.”
Marner has not played since March 7, when he suffered a high ankle sprain against the Boston Bruins. In eight games that Marner has been absent, the Leafs have gone 4-3-1.
With Marner remaining on the sideline for the home game on Thursday against the Washington Capitals and on Saturday in Buffalo against the Sabres, we might not see him back in uniform for a while yet. The Leafs are not scheduled to practise on Sunday before they play host to the Florida Panthers on Monday, so the earliest we might see Marner could be next Wednesday when the Tampa Bay Lightning visits.
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