Exciting Development Coming Out of Maple Leafs Practice on Monday

The Leafs dropped some unfortunate news on Monday morning, placing Jani Hakanpaa right back on injured reserve, where he had spent so much time at the beginning of the year.

However, just when things appeared to be working against them, the Leafs also had some good news to share on Monday, as a pair of injured forwards took a big step towards a return to the lineup.

On Monday, both Max Domi and Max Pacioretty were on the ice ahead of Leafs practice, meaning that it won't be long now before the forward group receives some powerful reinforcements.

Domi and Pacioretty have clearly both made tremendous progress in their recovery, taking full advantage of a light Leafs schedule over the past couple of weeks, using the lengthy stretches between games to heal up and put themselves in a good position to return as the schedule ramped back up.

Thankfully for the Leafs, the team performed well in the absence of these key pieces, as well as the likes of Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, who made their anticipated returns this past weekend against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Domi started the season on a heater, producing 6 assists I his first 6 games. Unfortunately, he has not produced a single point in 13 games since, which was a pretty good indicator that he was playing through something prior to being placed on Injured Reserve.

Meanwhile, Pacioretty had gone pointless in 5 games leading up to his injury, but had produced 6 points in his first 8 games as a Leaf to begin the season.