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The Maple Leafs could return to full health one day. 

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You probably wouldn’t want to bet on that, though.

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As star winger Mitch Marner (ankle) and goaltender Ilya Samsonov (undisclosed) continue to progress in their respective recoveries from injuries, defencemen Morgan Rielly and Joel Edmundson have joined them on the sideline.

Following a team day off on Monday, the latter two didn’t take part in the Leafs’ full morning skate ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe initially said that Rielly was day to day, but then said the Leafs leader in minutes played was not ruled out for the game versus the Devils.

Edmundson will not play and Keefe said he “wouldn’t expect him this week,” referring to the home game against the Washington Capitals on Thursday and the game in Buffalo against the Sabres on Saturday.

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Keefe didn’t specify either player’s injury.

And while defenceman Mark Giordano now is eligible to be activated from long-term injured reserve, that hasn’t happened, though Keefe said he expected the veteran would be available soon.

Marner and Samsonov skated on their own on Tuesday.

Marner is day to day and he has not played since March 7, when he was hurt in Boston.

“He’s progressing very well,” Keefe said. “As far as his plan for the rest of the week, I think that’ll be determined (Wednesday). I haven’t got the full report on how it went today. His status for practice is undetermined right now, but he’s doing well.”

And this was Keefe on Samsonov, who was hurt in the win against Edmonton on Saturday: “Based on how things went today, we’re expecting him in practice tomorrow and then take it from there.”

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Joseph Woll will be in net for the Leafs while Jake Allen starts for the Devils.

“If last game was any indication (41 saves in the 2-1 loss against Carolina on Sunday), he’s building momentum and getting back into a groove,” Keefe said of Woll. “That’s why it was important to get him back in the net tonight. He’s had some tough tough starts. He has been on the tail end of back-to-backs, he has played some tough opponents. Getting him in this one here tonight, I thought was important.”

And there was goalie Matt Murray on the ice for the first time with his teammates this season, as he took part in the skate. Murray continues to work his way back from having bilateral hip surgery last October.

With Edmundson out and Rielly likely out as well, the defence pairs at the skate were TJ Brodie-Ilya Lyubushkin, Jake McCabe-Timothy Liljegren and Simon Benoit-Conor Timmins. 

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“We’re managing all these things as best we can,” Keefe said in reference to the state of flux with the D corps.

“No matter what we’ve done and how we’ve moved things, the group has responded well to it. Our intention would be to continue to utilize all of our guys, but at the same time try to find some rhythm and consistency inside of it. That’s going to be a challenge and we hope that we can be healthy before long and be able to lock into some things.”

Though the Leafs don’t have third place in the Atlantic Division locked up — they’re four points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning with one game in hand — the Devils are trying to stay relevant in the race for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, sitting five points short of the second berth.

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“Pretty easy to have a lot of urgency in your game at this time of year,” Devils interim head coach Travis Green said. “We expect that out of our group.

“It’s no secret (the Leafs) are one of the better teams in the league. They have a lot of skill, they’re fast, they make plays. We’re going to have to be on top of our game. You have to be good in all areas to beat teams like this.”

The projected Leafs lineup:

FORWARDS

Tyler Bertuzzi-Auston Matthews-Max Domi

Bobby McMann-John Tavares-William Nylander

Matthew Knies-Pontus Holmberg-Nick Robertson

Connor Dewar-David Kampf-Noah Gregor

DEFENCE

TJ Brodie-Ilya Lyubushkin

Jake McCabe-Timothy Liljegren

Simon Benoit-Connor Timmins

GOALIES

Joseph Woll

Martin Jones

[email protected]

X: @koshtorontosun

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