Nylander missed six straight games with a lower-body injury, while McCabe missed two after aggravating something against the Islanders.
The Toronto Maple Leafs could have a few of their injured players return to the lineup on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.
William Nylander skated alongside Matias Maccelli and John Tavares during Toronto's morning skate on Saturday, signalling a return to the lineup. Nylander has missed six consecutive games with a lower-body injury, which he picked up against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 27.
Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube confirmed Nylander would be back in against the Canucks.
"He's obviously a great player, skilled, speed, I mean, he adds offense and adds in a lot of areas," added Berube. "It's great to have him back."
With Nylander's return, Toronto's head coach was forced to switch the lines around.
He moved Matthew Knies back up to the top line with Auston Matthews and Max Domi (Knies previously held Nylander's spot on the right wing of the second line). Bobby McMann was then shifted down to the fourth line with Scott Laughton and Steven Lorentz.
Calle Jarnkrok, who held the spot where McMann is now, is projected to be a healthy scratch.
"It's tough," Berube said of having to change the lines up with how good the Maple Leafs — who are 6-0-2 in their last eight games — are playing.
"Tweaked it a little bit. I kept that Roy line (Nick Robertson, Nicolas Roy, and Easton Cowan) together, and I just really like what they've been doing lately. So that's just the way it goes when you got people out, and they come back, you got to make some lineup changes."
Despite Nylander missing a total of 10 games this season, the Swede still leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 14 goals and 27 assists in 33 games.
There could be a change coming on the Maple Leafs' back-end tonight, too.
Jake McCabe skated alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson on Toronto's second defense pairing Saturday morning and is a game-time decision, said Berube. McCabe has missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, which he picked up against the New York Islanders one week ago.
"Feeling good," McCabe said after Toronto's morning skate on Saturday. "I just aggravated a little thing. We're all good though."
McCabe has been the most relied upon defender for the Maple Leafs this season, averaging 22:01 of ice time, which is tops among players on Toronto. He's used pretty heavily at five-on-five, but is also one of Toronto's top penalty killers.
The 32-year-old has three goals and 13 assists in 41 games this season.
"It's nice when you're playing. You just get in the groove of games and, when we're winning games and collecting points, and you're playing every other night, you get in a good rhythm," McCabe said. "Luckily, (the injury) wasn't too serious, and whether I play tonight or not, it's nice to get back in the fold pretty quickly."
Joseph Woll is the projected starting goaltender for Toronto after Dennis Hildeby stopped 22 of 23 shots in his start on Thursday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Since the holiday break, Woll has started in five of the Maple Leafs' seven games.
The 27-year-old has nine wins and a .916 save percentage through 16 games this season.