TORONTO -- Mitchell Marner practiced Monday for the first time since sustaining a high-ankle sprain Nov. 9 and Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said that the forward's return to the lineup was not far off.
"He looked great in practice today, brought a lot of energy," Keefe said. "I don't know when exactly his return will be. Today was the first step, the first practice he's had with us. The medical team will talk with him and sort all that out but based on his performance today, it doesn't look like it's too far away."
The 22-year-old, who led Toronto in scoring each of the past two seasons, will miss his 11th straight game when the Maple Leafs play the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TVAS, NBCSP, TSN4, NHL.TV). Toronto then plays a home game Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche and one in St. Louis against the Blues on Saturday.
"Hopefully soon [I'll return]," Marner said. "I'm just going to take it day by day and see what I feel like tomorrow and the next day and go from there."
Marner, who has 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 18 games, sustained the injury against the Flyers when he got tangled up with forward Carsen Twarynski and fell awkwardly on his ankle. The team said initially that he was expected to be out a minimum of four weeks but Marner credited the medical staff for getting him to a position where he is ahead of schedule.
"I think the main thing with our training staff has been rest and really making sure when I come in, I'm fully ready to do what I need to do to feel good on the ice," he said. "With the help from them, I'm not really surprised it's early."
When Marner does return, it is expected he will play right wing on a line with center John Tavares and left wing Ilya Mikheyev after the forwards skated together in practice. Zach Hyman spent the majority of last season at left wing with Tavares and Marner but Keefe said he wants to see how Hyman's skill set will fit on a line with center Alexander Kerfoot and right wing Kasperi Kapanen.
"With Mikheyev, we think he's paired very well with John and we've liked that line, how they've done. Probably bigger than that for me, I want to see what Zach's presence and skillset can do for Kerfoot and Kapanen," Keefe said. "That's a line we really need to get going, not just on offense but to be hard on the other team's better lines. If we can have that as a potential match up opportunity for us to free up our other lines, that could work really well for us. With Zach's skillset, we think it fits well there theoretically so we want to have a look at it and see how it goes."
Marner, who had been skating recently with injured Maple Leafs forward Trevor Moore, said his biggest hurdle right now is making sure his fitness level is where he needs it to be before returning to the lineup.
"I felt good, I feel like I've been working hard in the gym and trying to keep my conditioning up," Marner said. "It's always hard to keep it up in the gym but the last couple days I've been on the ice with Trevor so I feel like conditioning is back where I need it to be."
General manager Kyle Dubas said getting the chance to assess a fully healthy roster will be nice when Marner returns but that the potential for further injuries must always be considered.
"Full health is a luxury that not many teams have. Even teams in our division, Boston has missed a lot of guys in the last two years, but they won their seventh in a row last night, they just continue to find a way," Dubas said.
"It would be great in a perfect world to have the best 20 every night but I don't think in a League this physical and with 82 games in about 180 days, it's tough to be there all the time where everyone is 100% healthy but Mitch is a special player and we'll be excited to get him back here in the coming days for sure."
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