The last update we received was last week where he took part in a short skate prior to Leaf practice but no update was given in terms of return time. Today however we have been given a «week to week» timeframe and with 3 weeks left in the season, it looks like he may get back into some games before the end of the regular season.
When he does return, regardless of if it is playoffs or regular season, it will be a difficult decision for Keefe as to who to take out for Sandin to get some reps in. It seems likely that Morgan Rielly will get a game or two off to rest up before the postseason and perhaps we could see the same with veteran Mark Giordano.
It's really anyone's guess at this point as to who will come out, but the fact that the Leafs have already clinched a playoff spot with 10 games to go gives Sheldon Keefe some flexibility to be able to help accommodate some of the guys who take on a large workload with some rest time before May 2nd comes around.
I'd imagine that the Leafs will try to lock down that second spot in the Atlantic before giving some of the big dogs some time off. They currently hold a 4-point lead on Tampa, who sits 3rd in the Atlantic with 96 points and a 5-point lead on Wild Card Boston, who are sitting at 95 points. All of the Atlantic Division contenders have an equal number of games remaining.
