After what seemed like a very long month and a half, Rasmus Sandin finally rejoined the Leafs at practice Tuesday morning. Sandin has been out since March 19th with a knee injury and has been skating on his own for the past couple weeks now. With Jake Muzzin still hurt, and Timothy Liljegren dealing with some bumps and bruises, getting Sandin back is a huge boost. He looks poised to return against Boston on Friday.
Up until a couple weeks ago, there had been no real updates about a timeline for his return. Keefe finally announced that they were hopeful to get him into a couple games before the season ended, and it looks like they will do just that, giving Keefe another option to shift pairings around with.
Not only was Sandin back on the ice, but Ondrej Kase made his return to practice as well. Kase has been dealing with a concussion for the past six weeks and has only been skating for a week and a half. It would be surprising for him to join the lineup for tonight's game against Detroit, but as long as he is healthy, it gives Keefe another forward option and would give Keefe the ability to not have to dress Simmonds and Clifford at the same time unless a physical response is needed. The Leafs have said all along that going into the playoffs healthy was their priority and everything appears to be going that way at the right time.
