The Carolina Hurricanes look to be very close to finally having their full lineup again.
At Monday's practice, Jordan Staal, Andrei Svechnikov and William Carrier all were on the ice for practice and even more promisingly, none of the three were in non-contact jerseys.
Staal, 36, has missed the last four games due to a lower-body injury.
The Canes captain and shutdown center has 12 goals and 33 points in 71 games this season.
Svechnikov, 25, has missed the last two games since leaving Wednesday's game against the Washington Capitals early.
However, he had only been back for two and a half games after missing the prior seven with an upper-body injury.
The Russian winger has 19 goals and 45 points in 66 games this season.
Brind'Amour had referred to both players as mainly being out of the lineup due to precautionary reasons though.
Carrier, 30, on the other hand, had been out of the lineup since Jan. 5.
The physical winger had lower-body surgery in January after playing just 39 games, but it seems he's nearing a return.
Monday was the first time Carrier has skated with the team in a normal jersey after returning to full team practices last week.
However, Jesperi Kotkaniemi was absent from practice after leaving early on Saturday with a lower-body concern.
Brind'Amour said that Kotkaniemi had tweaked something following the game against Boston and that he was getting checked out Monday morning.
Here's how the team lineup up at Monday's practice:
Seth Jarvis - Sebastian Aho - Jackson Blake
Taylor Hall - Jack Roslovic - Logan Stankoven
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Jordan Martinook
Eric Robinson - Mark Jankowski - Tyson Jost
Will Carrier
Jaccob Slavin - Brent Burns
Dmitry Orlov - Jalen Chatfield
Shayne Gostisbehere -Sean Walker
Scott Morrow
Pyotr Kochetkov
Frederik Andersen
However, I wouldn't put those lineups in stone yet...
"I don't know what the lineup is going to be tomorrow," Brind'Amour said. "You can ask me, but I don't know who is available yet. The guys that were skating today, that's a positive sign, but I don't know as I haven't talked to any of them yet."
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