"We're confident and hopeful that he'll be back for the start of the playoffs," Jets coach Paul Maurice said Monday.
A start date for the playoffs has not been announced. The Jets are scheduled to conclude the regular season with a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on May 14.
Ehlers was injured in a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday, when he scored a goal and played 16:23.
Maurice said he wasn't certain when the injury occurred.
"I don't know if I can nail it to one," Maurice said. "He got into a bunch of different collisions. He finished the game. He's a tough young man, but I don't know that we can pinpoint one, specifically."
Ehlers has scored 46 points (21 goals, 25 assists) in 47 games this season, and his average of 0.98 points per game is the best of his six-season NHL career. He has scored at least 21 goals in five straight seasons and is second on the Jets this season behind forward Kyle Connor, who has scored 22 goals.
Adam Lowry skated Monday but is not ready to return to the Jets lineup. The forward left a 5-3 loss to Toronto on Thursday after he was hit in the head and missed his second straight game when Winnipeg lost 6-1 to the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
"Adam skates here today, so it's all kind of positive, forward motion from his injury," Maurice said. "And he's got to get out of the gold outfit and get back into a regular sweater and get bumping. I'm hopeful that might happen in a few days. But with all of these kind of neck and head-related things, we're just going to be so careful with them."
The Jets (27-18-3) are third in the seven-team Scotia North Division, one point behind the second-place Oilers and eight behind the first-place Maple Leafs. The top four teams will qualify for the playoffs.
