WINNIPEG – Mathieu Perreault took another step toward his recovery from a lower-body injury that has kept him out of the Winnipeg Jets‘ lineup for nearly a month.
The forward participated in his first practice without a no-contact jersey Monday morning after missing the past 11 games.
“It’s nice to finally get back out there and getting put into harder situations, more game like situations so yeah it’s encouraging.” Perreault said.
But Perreault said he’s still not at full health and is aiming to return later in the week.
“Pretty close.” Perreault said. “I think I probably won’t be a hundred percent for a little bit, but I feel like I’m getting ready to play, so hopefully sometime this week.”
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Perreault was hurt blocking a shot on Oct. 14 during Winnipeg’s victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. He has a goal and two assists in five games this season.
The 29-year-old has had trouble staying healthy in his three plus seasons in Winnipeg. He missed 17 games last season and 20 in his first year with the Jets. But this latest injury will force him to wear more protection in the future.
“I’m going to wear extra padding on my skates and hopefully it doesn’t happen again.” Perreault said. “You feel like you probably should have worn them before the injury happens, but sometimes you need this to happen to figure it out, but now, yeah I’ll definitely be wearing the padding on my skates.”
The Jets have also dodged a bullet when it comes to Tyler Myers. He appeared to suffer a serious injury against the Arizona Coyotes and needed to be helped off the ice but he was back at practice on Monday.
“He’s good.” head coach Paul Maurice said. “We would have been real cautious with it and we were, but he felt strong today and got through practice with no issues so he’s gonna be fine. It was scary but we’re fortunate.”
WATCH: Mathieu Perreault Interview
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