NHL rumblings: Will McDavid, Kaprizov, the Tkachuks and other injured stars be back for the playoffs?

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The Stanley Cup playoffs are two and a half weeks away, and there is still uncertainty around the injury recovery timelines affecting some big names.

Here’s the latest on some big ones:

Miro Heiskanen, Dallas Stars

Heiskanen injured his left knee Jan. 28 and had surgery on it Feb. 4. He started skating last week.

It is still early in the process. The initial timeline was three to four months. It will be two months on Friday. But the updated timeline right now is anywhere from the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the end of the first round. And when you consider that the Stars are currently lined up to play the Colorado Avalanche in a conference final-worthy matchup in the opening round, the difference in those two timeline scenarios is massive.

So it’s TBD on how this will impact the playoffs, with all kinds of intrigue. The Stars, despite continuing to win games, haven’t been the same defensive team without their No. 1 blueliner, which is to be expected given that he leads the team in average ice time at more than 25 minutes per night and touches all aspects of their game. You can’t properly replace those minutes or the quality of those minutes.

His availability or lack thereof for Round 1 is a monster storyline in a potential Avs-Stars matchup.

Will Miro Heiskanen return for the Stars’ first-round series? (Luke Hales / Getty Images)

Matthew Tkachuk, Florida Panthers

Injured while playing for Team USA at the 4 Nations, Tkachuk skated a bit on his own earlier this week. There is still no firm timeline, though. The earliest he is expected back is the start of the playoffs, but that’s not a sure thing. It could also be later. It all depends on how he feels, and with that type of injury (the team is saying lower body, but my understanding is it’s a groin), there’s always a risk of setbacks after pushing it.

There’s no definitive way to know how a player recovers from a groin injury. So, again, it’s not guaranteed whatsoever that he’ll be ready to go for Game 1. But knowing the warrior that Tkachuk is, I wouldn’t bet against him.

This makes it all the more important for Florida to try and win the top seed in the Atlantic and avoid either Tampa Bay or Toronto in the first round. Not that Ottawa would be a pushover, but the Senators would be a more desirable first-round opponent, especially if Tkachuk isn’t ready for Game 1.

Dougie Hamilton, New Jersey Devils

After Hamilton was injured on March 4, the Devils indicated he would be out for the regular season and likely wouldn’t be back until the second round of the playoffs. He started skating late last week, which is a positive development, and if he continues to progress with no setbacks, the Devils are now holding out hope of their No. 1 defenseman returning before the end of the regular season — or at least for the opening round of the playoffs. There’s definitely no guarantee of that, though.

My understanding is that it’s the type of knee injury that would normally require four to six weeks’ recovery time. It marked four weeks on Tuesday, but it all depends on how it feels when he pushes it in recovery. His availability and effectiveness loom large if the Devils, without star center Jack Hughes for the rest of the season (playoffs included), have any chance of upsetting Carolina in the opening round.

Kirill Kaprizov, Minnesota Wild

As our Wild beat writers, Michael Russo and Joe Smith, have chronicled in detail, Kaprizov has been back at practice with teammates since Sunday, which was a welcome sight. But he still hasn’t been medically cleared.

Kaprizov is on the team’s road trip this week, but the team said he won’t play. The organization was slated to find out more about his situation Tuesday, and we should get another relevant update from Wild head coach John Hynes after the morning skate Wednesday at MSG in New York — the same city where Kaprizov had surgery in January.

What makes the most sense would be waiting until he has the team’s next full off-day practice next Tuesday and then unleashing the Russian superstar next Wednesday night at home versus the San Jose Sharks. Either way, the expectation is that Kaprizov will be back to help the sinking Wild before the end of the regular season.

Gabriel Landeskog, Colorado Avalanche

The Avs captain hasn’t played since his team won the Cup in June 2022, having undergone a type of knee surgery in May 2023 that no NHL player has ever tried to play again with.

As such, it’s no surprise it’s taken longer than the team’s original prognosis for him because there is no real handbook on this. It was big news when he joined the team in practice two weeks ago. The latest this week is that he’s doing well, skating more consistently with the team. He’s still ramping up the workload and seeing how he responds.

There’s no timeline yet, which is the most important reality. But at least there’s hope, where there wasn’t nearly as much of a few months ago.

Gabriel Landeskog hasn’t played since lifting the Stanley Cup in 2022. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

Tomas Hertl, Vegas Golden Knights

Hertl injured his shoulder crashing into the boards in a game on March 23 and won’t play this week, head coach Bruce Cassidy told local Las Vegas media Monday. Tied for the team lead with 31 goals, his availability isn’t known beyond that update. But my understanding is that the team does expect him to be a playoff participant when Game 1 rolls around.

Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators

I debated even putting Brady Tkachuk on this list because the team doesn’t consider his sudden upper-body injury very serious, but given the time of year, I figured why not touch on it? He missed Tuesday night’s game and is considered day-to-day by the club. The Senators expect him to play in the next game.

It’s a different ailment than what he was battling coming out of the 4 Nations. He was injured Sunday after being interfered with by Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves, who got a penalty on the play, but it was more awkward than violent, to be sure. And of course, the Senators captain stayed in the game. But the team was smart in being cautious and keeping him out of Tuesday’s game.

My sense here is that the Senators were going to give their captain a break at some point before the playoffs, and this presented itself as a natural opportunity as he felt stiff from that hit with Graves.

Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers

Oh yeah, that guy.

The world No. 1, who joined his teammates for the morning skate in Vegas on Tuesday in a non-contact sweater, has been out since suffering a lower-body injury in a game on March 20. The Oilers say they expect No. 97 back before the end of the regular season. More specifically, they don’t expect him on this current road trip, which wraps up Monday night in Anaheim, but they are looking sometime within the last stretch of five games for his return. That’s subject to change, but that’s what I was hearing Tuesday.

So he’ll probably be back in the last week of the regular season. The silver lining is that he will return after getting some rest, which isn’t the worst thing after playing into late June last season, having a short offseason and not quite looking at his very best/ridiculous standard most of the season. Factor in playing in the 4 Nations, too.

Aside from playoff seeding within the Pacific Division, missing games right now isn’t the end of the world. A full tank of energy for the playoffs is what’s most important, and I think that’s how the Oilers are looking at it.

(Photos of Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov: Bruce Bennett and Alex Goodlett / Getty Images)

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