The team held a full practice at PNC Arena Wednesday morning, their first of the week after the team had off on Monday and a limited group of players took to the ice on Tuesday.
Two of those players that took to the ice on Tuesday and did so again on Wednesday were Brendan Smith and Tony DeAngelo. Both were injured on February 20 & 21 respectively, and now appear to be right on the cusp of rejoining the lineup.
Smith, who told reporters he was medically cleared on Tuesday, is still on the road to recovery after suffering a fracture in his skull when he blocked a shot in the team's win over Pittsburgh 24 days ago. The left-handed defenseman said that his hearing in his left ear has not yet fully returned but he's been given the green light to put on his game sweater once again.
"I've been bag skating too much," the defenseman joked when discussing his impending return. "I feel like I'm in shape. You don't know about game-shape, because that's a little bit different, but we've put a lot of work in to get ready for this moment."
On the DeAngelo front, Rod Brind'Amour shared that he, too, is a possibility for tomorrow's meeting with the Maple Leafs. Working his way back from a core injury, the right-handed defenseman has been itching to get back to the lineup, telling the ABC telecast on Saturday that he's ready to go.
After starting the season with 40 points in 43 games, the head coach said that the plan is to reassess after morning skate tomorrow at Scotiabank Arena.
"It was encouraging today that he was out there with us," Brind'Amour said of his defender and the chance of him being available for the first game of the stretch. "I would say sooner rather than later."
Jalen Chatfield, who played nine games while both DeAngelo and Smith were injured, was
. At today's practice, Smith worked on a pair with Ian Cole, while DeAngelo operated as the extra alongside Seth Jarvis.
In terms of the forward group, the lines reflected the following:
Svechnikov - Aho - Teravainen
Martinook - Trocheck - Necas
Niederreiter - Staal - Fast
Lorentz - Kotkaniemi - Stepan
The "SAT" line was reunited after Pittsburgh's second goal on Sunday, previously modified by Svechnikov and Necas flipping spots within the top six.
In net for Carolina, Frederik Andersen is poised to take on his former club, this time with fans in the building. When the two sides got together six weeks ago, Canada's health and safety protocols held capacity to just 500, not allowing Toronto's faithful fans to show love to "Freddie" in his first return. This time around, that'll be different.
"It's important to me, it's important to him," Brind'Amour told reporters. "Not a lot of thought has to go into it. It's his time to go in and it just happens to be them."
