Marner has skated several times since suffering the reported high-ankle sprain but isn't expected to appear in game action this week.
Marner has skated several times since suffering the reported high-ankle sprain but isn't expected to appear in game action this week.
Mitch Marner was seen on the ice again on Wednesday but still isn't close to a return to the Maple Leafs' lineup.
This is the second time the media has seen the 26-year-old skate since suffering the reported high-ankle sprain injury in Toronto's 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins on Mar. 7. Although he's on the ice skating, the Maple Leafs don't expect him to play at any point this week.
A practice, though, isn't out of the question.
"I think the hope or plan was that we could get him going to be able to practice on Friday. I do not expect him to be available or even to consider him playing this week," said Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe on Wednesday.
"But he looked really good out there today. And progress looks to be good. I think he's in a good place. We just got to continue to build him up."
Toronto was scheduled to have a practice on Wednesday following their 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils the night prior. However, the Maple Leafs opted for a skills practice instead due to the few players being available for practice.
"I don't know if I'd call it a skills day," Keefe said. "We were mindful of the fact that we just played three games in four nights, but quite frankly we had a few players that I expected to be available for practice today that played last night that were not available for practice today.
"So all of a sudden our numbers were real light. And many of the things I wanted to do today were not going to be possible with less people. So I felt if it was going to be more of a flowing type practice then we can do that tomorrow morning and capitalize on the rest here today."
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If Marner doesn't play this week as Keefe suggests, the forward will have missed 10 games since suffering the ankle injury in Boston. There wasn't much said about Marner's status beyond this week, meaning if he plays on Monday against the Florida Panthers, the forward will have nine games to prepare for the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin on April 20.
Marner has 25 goals and 51 assists for 76 points in 62 games this season.
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