Two Injured Maple Leafs Defensemen Trending Toward a Game One Return

While the Stanley Cup Playoffs start for Toronto on Sunday, the team still has a bit of practice and work to do in order to prepare for the first game of the Battle of Ontario, but things are looking good for the team this postseason.

One thing they need in order to be successful though, and that's getting healthy. They are still missing a few key players, and their return is going to be imperative to Toronto's success.

So it's a good thing they both appeared ready at practice.

Practice saw Jake McCabe and Oliver Ekman-Larsson back on the ice, with the former lining up with his familiar partner in Chris Tanev, and the latter paired with Simon Benoit, which might give some pause given how good Philippe Myers has been recently.

It's a huge boost for the team considering how important they are to the makeup of the lineup, and there's no doubt that Toronto is going to be leaps and bounds better with them against Ottawa than without.

It's a great sign too that things may not have been as serious as first thought and their continued absences was just a ploy by Craig Berube to keep his best players healthy with the confidence his depth pieces could carry the load.

McCabe is confident he'll be ready to go for Game One however Ekman-Larsson is still mum on whether or not he's healthy enough to suit up.

There's still no word on David Kampf's return although he was seen on the ice in recent days, and while he could make a return for Game One, we won't know for sure until the team actually takes the ice.

McCabe this season has been better than expected and created an elite pairing with Chris Tanev, and earned himself a big extension earlier this season thanks to his solid production; he has 23 points in 66 games while adding over 100 hits and blocks and a plus-23 rating.

Ekman-Larsson, who came over in free agency this past summer has been quite a surprise given how much concern there was about his age and production level.

He registered 29 points in 77 games while adding 108 hits and 83 blocks with a plus-14 rating; fantastic numbers given how much flak he was given earlier in the season.

We'll have to wait and see for sure if both men are coming back for Game One, but all signs point to yes, and that means great things for the Maple Leafs.