Toronto Maple Leafs centre John Tavares took a step towards returning to the lineup by stepping back on the ice for the first time since Thursday’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

Tavares was absent from the home opener on Saturday due to an illness that lingered into Monday as he did not practice with the team on Thanksgiving. According to William Nylander, Tavares was battling this illness during their tilt against the Devils and it got bad enough to hold him out of the lineup this past weekend.

Head coach Craig Berube did not rule out the former captain for their game against the Los Angeles Kings when speaking with reporters on Monday. When asked for a further update on Tuesday, he was happy to see Tavares back in the mix and that he got through practice so perhaps he could make his return on Wednesday.

Joseph Woll made a brief appearance at practice before the main group hit the ice. He was seen working on his positioning and body movement but ultimately did not take any shots before leaving fairly quickly.

Woll has yet to make an appearance in the regular season due to being placed on IR last week with lower-body tightness. Berube labelled the netminder’s status as ‘day-to-day’ when speaking with reporters after the morning skate on Saturday and followed up on Monday by telling the media he is encouraged by the progress made.

After Tuesday’s practice, Berube reiterated that he is encouraged by Woll’s recovery and that he could be joining the team for practice as soon as the morning skate tomorrow. Although this means his season debut will be on hold for the next little bit it does signal he won’t be out for long.

Nylander may have caught the bug that was bothering Tavares because he was unavailable for Tuesday’s practice because of an illness. This comes after a strong night on Saturday where he scored two goals against the Penguins, his first two of the 2024-25 campaign.

It is certainly possible that Nylander recovers in time to play in Wednesday’s tilt against the Kings and certainly a lot can change within 24 hours, but it is more likely the Leafs opt to give him some extra time to rest so it is one to keep an eye on. Berube noted that a bug is going around the room currently which could impact the performance of the team for the next little bit.

“That’s up in the air right now,” Berube said on Nylander’s status for Wednesday’s game against the Kings. “We’ll see how he feels later on. I’ll find out more later.”

As a result of Nylander’s absence and Tavares’ return, the Leafs shuffled their lines a bit. Here is what they used courtesy of the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran:

Timothy Liljegren was skating on the third pair alongside Simon Benoit for a second straight practice, which seems to indicate he is in line to make his regular-season debut on Wednesday. Berube has been pleased with the Swedish defenceman’s intensity and quicker thinking in recent days which has rewarded him with a return to the fold. With his future with the team uncertain, a strong showing could help either maintain his spot on the roster or make him more desirable in a trade.

The Leafs also made some tweaks to their power-play units with Tavares and Max Pacioretty moving to the top unit while Morgan Rielly and Matthew Knies are on the second unit. They were seen doing a close-quarters drill to improve their high-danger game in front of the net when on the man advantage. Given the power-play is currently 0-9, perhaps a different approach could help them break through their early slump.