He’s been out for since October 11th, but Mika Zibanejad finally made his return to the New York Rangers team practice today, albeit in a non-contact jersey.  The Swedish center has been out for over five weeks with what has been described as an upper body injury, but speculation remains that he suffered another concussion after the hit by Patrice Bergeron in his last game with the team.

The potential return of their number one center will buoy a team that has performed relatively well without him, going 5-3-1, with two of those losses occurring in their previous two games.  Zibanejad has already been ruled out for tomorrow night’s matchup with the Washington Capitals at MSG, so it’ll be noteworthy if he makes the trip to Canada for games against the Senators Friday and Canadiens Saturday.

Meanwhile Micheal Haley remains on the roster for the moment, and Kaapo Kakko skated ahead of what is expected to be his return to the line-up following a two-game absence as he battled the flu.  Timothy Gettinger is also expected to make his season debut, replacing Lias Andersson who joined the Wolf Pack on Sunday.