Injury Updates: Lowry, Heineman, Blue Jackets, Maple Leafs

The Jets will have their captain back in the lineup tonight versus St. Louis as the team announced (Twitter link) that Adam Lowry will return after missing the last three-plus weeks with an upper-body injury.  The 31-year-old was on pace for a career year offensively before being sidelined after collecting 11 goals and 15 assists in his first 48 outings while averaging 15:24 per night of ice time.  He’s likely to return to the middle-six role he held before being sidelined while being a key part of their penalty kill.  Winnipeg had two open roster spots so no corresponding move needed to be made to activate Lowry.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

• The Canadiens will welcome back Emil Heineman tonight against Ottawa, per a team announcement (Twitter link). The rookie has chipped in with 10 goals and seven assists in 41 games despite primarily playing on Montreal’s fourth line as he’s averaging just over 11 minutes a night.  Heineman missed the last five weeks with an upper-body injury sustained on a road trip in Utah when he was struck by a car.
• Aaron Portzline of The Athletic provided (Twitter links) a pair of updates on injured Blue Jackets veterans. Center Sean Monahan skated today and has been skating on his own for a while as he hopes to be back soon from his wrist injury.  He was initially expected to be out until mid-March but is hopeful that he won’t be out for much longer.  Meanwhile, blueliner Erik Gudbranson took part in today’s optional skate.  He has been out since mid-October after undergoing shoulder surgery.  His initial timeline for a return was late March and the fact he’s on the ice now suggests that he’s at least on schedule in his recovery.
• Maple Leafs winger Max Pacioretty has been ruled out of this weekend’s games after tweaking something earlier in the week, relays Nick Barden of The Hockey News. There’s no timetable yet on how long he’ll miss.  However, they could get center Connor Dewar back on Sunday against Chicago.  Dewar has missed a little over a month with an upper-body injury.  Toronto will have to make a roster move to activate him although that could be as simple as transferring Pacioretty to IR for the time being.