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Scenes from Leafs morning skate: Matthews looks terrific in shooting drills, Jarnkrok’s timeline unknown
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Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images
Arun Srinivasan
Nov 9, 2024, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Nov 9, 2024, 15:34 EST
It was a light optional morning skate but Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews returned to the ice, after being placed on injured reserve retroactive to November 3 on Friday. Matthews is eligible to return Tuesday against the Ottawa Senators and he looked terrific during routine shooting drills.
Toronto’s lineup remains intact from Friday’s victory over the Detroit Red Wings, with Joseph Woll getting the start Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
Matthews, Connor Dewar, Philippe Myers and Matt Benning were the lone skaters to take the ice, while Andrew D’Agostini was in goal.
Here’s what you need to know:

Auston Matthews looks terrific during morning skate

Auston Matthews is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury but he looked every bit the part of the world’s best goal-scorer on Saturday morning.
Matthews worked on shooting drills with the players in attendance and constantly scorched the net with real velocity from everywhere inside the offensive zone. It’s just practice after all, so temper your expectations accordingly, but Matthews shot the lights out, he skated with real power and intentionality, and it seems like he’s going to be more than fine when he eventually returns to the lineup.
“Like I said the other day: he’s going in the right direction. He was on the ice today, which is great news. He’s feeling better.”
We’ll be monitoring Matthews’ status leading up to Tuesday but suffice to say, he appears likely to return in full form against the Senators.

No timeline for Calle Jarnkrok’s lineup

Calle Jarnkrok was placed on long-term injured reserve to begin the season and still hasn’t played in a game yet. Berube provided an update on Jarnkrok’s status, without providing a real timeline for his eventual debut.
“It’s tough on that right now. I can’t give you a timeline on him right now. He’s still a ways away still.”
Jarnkrok was initially projected to play alongside Max Domi and William Nylander at the outset of training camp, but he’s still on long-term injured reserve and it appears unlikely that the Maple Leafs will have to make an imminent decision about his playing time just yet. The 33-year-old is a defensively reliable presence and recorded 10 goals and 21 points in 52 regular season games last season.

Maple Leafs’ projected lineup:

Matthew Knies-Max Domi-Mitch Marner
Max Pacioretty-John Tavares-William Nylander
Bobby McMann-Pontus Holmberg-Nick Robertson
Steven Lorentz-David Kampf-Ryan Reaves
Morgan Rielly-Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Jake McCabe-Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit-Conor Timmins
Joseph Woll (confirmed starter)
Anthony Stolarz

Canadiens’ projected lineup:

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Kirby Dach
Alex Newhook-Jake Evans-Juraj Slafkovsky
Brendan Gallagher-Christian Dvorak-Josh Anderson
Emil Heineman-Lucas Condotta-Joel Armia 
Mike Matheson-Kaiden Guhle
Lane Hutson-David Savard
Arber Xhekaj-Jayden Struble 
Sam Montembeault
Cayden Primeau

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