Ice Chips: McCabe, Hakanpaa participate in Leafs' practice
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Keep updated on all the injury news and roster updates from around the NHL with daily Ice Chips.
Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs are inching towards a return for two injured defencemen, as Jake McCabe and Jani Hakanpaa both participated in Monday's practice, per reports.
McCabe has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury after appearing to suffer the injury during a fight with the Philadelphia Flyers' Garnet Hathaway.
McCabe and Hathaway dropped the gloves near the end of the opening period and McCabe fell hard on the ice with Hathaway landing on top of him. McCabe, whose head appeared to hit the ice, was slow to get up but did leave the playing surface under his own power.
McCabe departed after roughly 10 minutes of practicing, though Maple Leafs head coach noted afterwards that McCabe is "doing really well. There’s no setbacks with him so it’s good to see."
Hakanpaa practiced for the first time since undergoing a procedure on his knee following his second game of the season. He has been shut down since Nov. 16, when he was placed on retroactive IR.
The Maple Leafs held a pre-practice session with assistant coach Marc Savard to work on power play. The team went 0-for-3 with the man advantage in a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, which dropped the Maple Leafs to 19th overall in power-play scoring.
Per TSN Leafs Insider Mark Masters, the power-play unit was shuffled at the session. Matthew Knies, Auston Matthews, John Tavares, William Nylander and Mitch Marner were working as the top power-play unit.
Maple Leafs shuffle lines in practice
After a disappointing effort in a shutout loss at home to the Canucks on Saturday, the Maple Leafs skated with a new player in the top line in practice.
Veteran forward Steven Lorentz skated as the left winger alongside Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner at practice on Monday.
Lorentz, 28, has four goals and nine points in 44 games this season, his first with the Maple Leafs.
The Maple Leafs skated the following lines in practice:
Lorentz - Matthews - Marner
Knies - Tavares - Nylander
McMann - Domi - Robertson
Dewar - Kampf - Reaves
Pacioretty, Holmberg
Ekman-Larsson - Tanev
Rielly - Myers
Benoit - Timmins
Rifai - Hakanpää
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets skated the following lines in practice on Monday:
Connor - Scheifele - Vilardi
Ehlers - Lowry - Iafallo
Neiderreiter - Kupari - Perfetti
Toninato - Gustafsson - Barron
Morrissey - DeMelo
Samberg - Pionk
Stanley - Heinola
Fleury (regular jersey) - Coghlan
The Jets return to action on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks.
Colorado Avalanche
Multiple injured Colorado Avalanche players skated in practice on Monday morning, according to the Denver Post's Corey Masisak.
Forwards Valeri Nichushkin, Miles Wood and Ivan Ivan, along with defenceman Oliver Kylington, all participated in the practice session wearing red non-contact jerseys.
Defenceman Samuel Girard was also on the ice after missing Saturday's game against the Jets with an undisclosed injury.
Nichushkin and Ivan have both been out of the lineup since late in December - with Ivan placed on IR as of Dec. 31. The Avalanche have been missing Kylington and Wood since late in November.
Despite the rash of injuries, the Avalanche, who play their next game against the New York Rangers on Tuesday, sit fourth in the Central Division at 26-17-1.
Monday waivers news
The Minnesota Wild placed forwards Ben Jones and Devin Shore on waivers on Monday, the team announced.
Shore, 30, has one assist in 24 games with the Wild this season, his first with the team. Jones, 25, has not recorded a point in 25 games with the Wild this year.
In other waivers news, Erik Brannstrom cleared waivers for the Vancouver Canucks and will be assigned to the Abbotsford Canucks of the AHL, according to TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston.
Additionally, per reports, Tampa Bay Lightning F Gage Goncalves was also placed on waivers on Monday. The 23-year-old has a goal and two points in 26 games this season.
Chicago Blackhawks
The Chicago Blackhawks skated the following lines in practice on Monday:
Bertuzzi-Bedard-Mikheyev
Foligno-Dickinson- Teräväinen
Dach-Nazar-Reichel
Hall-Donato-Maroon
Martinez-Jones
Vlasic-Crevier
Allan-Kaiser
The Blackhawks take on the Calgary Flames on Monday night, entering play at the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks assigned defenceman Shakir Mukhamadullin to the AHL's San Jose Barracuda, the team announced on Monday.
Mukhamadullin, 23, has a goal in 10 games this season with the Sharks. He made his NHL debut a year ago with San Jose, and has one goal and one assist in 13 career games.
Philadelphia Flyers
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella told reporters on Monday that Samuel Ersson would start in net for their game against the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Tortorella would not make any announcements regarding the lineup in front of Ersson though, as the team is still making decisions based on the health of some of the players.