Update on injured Leaf, who is now believed to be halfway through his recovery timeline

During a preseason game against the Habs this fall, depth defenseman Carl Dahlstrom took a cross check along the boards early in the first period which caused an injury to his shoulder that required surgery, forcing him out of game action for about 6 months.

Three months later - about halfway through his recovery time line of 6 months, Dahlstrom was spotted on the ice working on his conditioning, trying to stay in game shape, even though he still has another at least another 3 months of recovery time ahead.

This is definitely encouraging news for the Buds as they continue to battle the injury bug, which has bit them exceptionally hard this season on the blueline, forcing them to go deep into their depth with the Marlies. It had even forced their hand in November, pushing them to acquire Conor Timmins from the Arizona Coyotes in what has turned out to be an excellent move.

The 27-year-old Dahlstrom is a nice depth blue liner for the Leafs to have as he had two assists in three games with the team last season and 14 assists in 49 games with the Marlies in the American Hockey League. I'm sure they're happy to see him making some progress and hopefully he'll be able to turn a corner and ramp up his training a little closer to the playoffs. As we know, you can never have too many defensemen capable of playing NHL minutes.