Three important injured forwards for the Ottawa Senators returned to the ice on Tuesday, but their status moving forward remains unclear.
Captain Brady Tkachuk and centres Josh Norris and Shane Pinto joined their teammates at practice. Tkachuk left the ice early and Pinto was skating in a non-contact jersey.
After the practice, head coach Travis Green declined to say whether any of the three would be cleared to play against the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday.
Green later appeared on The Fan Hockey Show and was asked by host Mike Futa if he expects his injured players to be back soon.
"I really hope so," Green answered. "When our lineup has been healthy, I really like how our team has progressed ... but anytime you lose top-end players, it becomes challenging. But I've got a lot of faith, a lot of belief in our group and hopefully by the end of the weekend we'll have everyone back, knock on wood, and firing on all cylinders."
Tkachuk was injured during the 4 Nations Face-Off and missed Saturday's game against the Canadiens.
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"I'm still hopeful to play tomorrow," Tkachuk said after practice. "We'll just have wait and see. ... Of course I want to go to battle with these guys, but I think everybody in here, Sens fans, they don't want to see something nagging and taking away from my game for the next 24, next 25 games."
Pinto has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury while Norris has missed five games with an upper-body injury.
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