Good news/bad news: Jets' injury situation comes into focus

UPDATE - MAR. 13, 12:30PM CT: Matt Hendricks left Monday's game with an indisclosed injury and will not play on against the Predators.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - For now, the Winnipeg Jets' injury list isn't getting any shorter, but for the first time in a while, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel for many of the team's walking wounded.
Head Coach Paul Maurice provided a thorough update on the Jets' injury situation prior to Monday's game against the Capitals:
Mark Scheifele (upper body) returned to the ice for the first time, albeit in a yellow, non-contact sweater after leaving last Tuesday's game against the New York Rangers. Scheifele, who played only 12 games after returning from a 16-game absence early in the new year, has 21 goals and 51 points this season.

Scheifele will not play in either of the final two games on the road trip, but may be an option when the Jets return home to face the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, or Dallas Stars on Sunday. With travel and a pair of scheduled off days coming up later this week, Scheifele's first chance to participate in a full team practice will come on Saturday.
Steve Mason (lower body) has returned to Winnipeg and had a scope performed on his knee Monday morning. The injury will keep the goaltender out of the lineup for the next 2-3 weeks.
Dmitry Kulikov (upper body) has also returned to Winnipeg for further evaluation after leaving last Thursday's game against the New Jersey Devils. The extent of the injury is not yet known, but the coach is expecting to have an update on Tuesday afternoon prior to the game against the Nashville Predators.
Adam Lowry (upper body) has missed 24 of the last 26 games, but has been back skating for almost three weeks in a non-contact jersey. On Monday, he was back in the regular navy blue for the first time and could be an option in the very near future.
It's a similar story for Jacob Trouba (lower body), who last played on Jan. 25 at Anaheim. He's been back in regular colours for nearly a week and after spending that time getting back up to game speed, he could be back in the lineup on Thursday against the Blackhawks.
Toby Enstrom (lower body) has been out for six of the last seven games and will not play on Monday, either, but came back to the rink showing significant progress. Maurice, though, isn't taking any chances with the defender: "I'm keeping him out tonight," he said.
Finally, Shawn Matthias is ready to go after missing the last 23 games with an upper-body injury.

"One of the things he's battling is we haven't had a lot of practice time with the number of games that we're playing," Maurice said. "We'll wait on that before we can get him into a heavy one."
- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com