McCabe has been out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury since April 2.
Sep 26, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe (22) skates with the puck against the Montreal Canadiens in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs expect to get Jake McCabe back in the lineup before the final game of the regular season.
"Yeah, I am," Berube said when asked about McCabe's status. "But not tomorrow."
The 31-year-old defenseman has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury, which was suffered in Toronto's 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers at home on April 2.
He has been day-to-day with the injury, but after skating on the ice briefly before Maple Leafs' practice on Friday, head coach Craig Berube says he expects him back before the playoffs.
McCabe has been one of Toronto's most vital defensemen this season, primarily playing alongside Chris Tanev on the team's shutdown pairing. The defenseman, who plays a hard-nosed style of game, has two goals and 21 assists (a career-high) in 66 games.
He has also averaged 21:31 of ice time this season, the highest total on the team.
With McCabe not returning to the lineup yet and Oliver Ekman-Larsson out with an undisclosed injury, Toronto will be forced to play a defender short on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
"It’s always challenging, but we’ve played games where we lost a D early in the game and you play with five," Berube said on Friday.
"I mean, it’s important that our forwards do a good job of helping our D out tomorrow night and making sure they get back quick for breakouts and things like that, make the game as easy on them as much as possible."
Max Pacioretty and Jani Hakanpaa's status entering the playoffs
Max Pacioretty and Jani Hakanpaa participated in a full practice with the team Friday, something they've done throughout the past few weeks. However, both cannot return to the lineup until the playoffs due to Toronto's salary cap restraints.
It's been a difficult road for Hakanpaa, who has only played two games this season because of a lingering knee issue. Those two games were in November, and he hasn't been able to string together a positive stretch since.
The 33-year-old spoke after practice on Friday and admitted he's in a pretty good spot right now.
"I've been making some good improvement. Getting back out there with the guys, it's been good," he said. "Slowly working my way towards playing again here."
But what are the actual odds he returns for the playoffs?
"That's a tough one to kind of say, really," Hakanpaa said. "It's been trending really good in the gym, on the ice, off ice, everything, so hopefully we get there. We'll see."
With how it's trending, it feels more likely that Pacioretty will return to the lineup before Hakanpaa does. He's played more games this season — 37 games, with five goals and eight assists — and has consistently been on the ice with the team.
However, Berube wasn't ready to provide concrete answers on whether either player would return for the playoffs.
"That I don’t know. I don’t have that answer for you," he said. "They’re still working away through things, so that’s all I know on that."
Toronto has four more games remaining in the regular season, including a back-to-back (Montreal on Saturday, Carolina on Sunday). Let's see how everything shapes up for the Maple Leafs before Game 1 of the playoffs.
