Winnipeg Jets forward Bryan Little is slowly recovering from his serious head injury.
It’s been three weeks since he suffered a brain bleed and a perforated ear drum when he was hit by a shot from Nikolaj Ehlers on the side of the head.
“He’s feeling better, I’ll tell you that,” head coach Paul Maurice told reporters after practice.
“The dizziness has come down. He is making progress, but it’s just going to take some time before everything heals inside, and he can decide where he wants to go with it.”
Little missed the start of the season with a concussion, and was hurt again in just his seventh game back in the lineup. The 32-year-old had two goals and three assists between the two head injuries.
“So he’s still in that healing phase,” Maurice said. “We’ve talked about the protocol, and they need to let his eardrum heal. And then once that happens, they’ll assess what the next phase is.”
Little has now begun light exercise, and has been spending some time at the rink.
“He was there yesterday,” Maurice said. “And he is on the bike — very light bike rides.”
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Jets defenceman Nathan Beaulieu isn’t accompanying the team on their upcoming three-game road trip. After missing the first month of the season, Beaulieu is hurt again.
The 26-year-old appeared to injure his hand in the second period of Saturday’s win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. He left the game after blocking a shot and is expected to be off the skates for the next seven to 10 days, but Maurice wouldn’t reveal who will replace him in the lineup when they face the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
Both Carl Dahlström and Anthony Bitetto have been healthy scratches for more than three weeks, but one of them will get the go ahead to play the Sharks.
“We’ll get there, make sure nobody gets the flu,” said Maurice.
“It’s too early to make that decision, but I got a pretty good idea where we’re going.”
But fellow blueliner Josh Morrissey will be in the lineup on Wednesday despite leaving their last game with an injury. He was hurt after taking a shot off the back of his knee, but 72 hours later Morrissey was doing much better.
“Feel great now,” he said. “It’s nice to have some days off to heal up. We don’t usually have that kinda time off in between games. It was just one of those things.
“It hit me in an awkward spot and kinda, I guess, swelled up a little bit on me, but we were able to get lots of treatment the last few days and feel good now.”