Pierre Engvall Skates, Joins Teammates for Maple Leafs Practice

Pierre Engvall was skating on the ice in Sweden this summer and getting ready for the upcoming season when he caught an edge and twisted his foot

“I’ve been doing some rehab now and it’s getting better and better,” Engvall said following his first practice on Sunday.

The 26-year-old is coming off a year that saw him score 15 goals and 35 points in 78 regular season games. He re-signed with the Maple Leafs, inking a one-year, $2.25 million deal just moments before the forward was eligible for salary arbitration.

Although Engvall has taken a step in his recovery, he will not play on Monday when the Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Montreal Canadiens in pre-season action.

He’s scheduled to be re-evaluated this upcoming week to see how far along his injury is.

“I think the next step for me is to skate harder (on it),” Engvall said.

It’s unclear if Engvall can work his way back to full health in time for the Maple Leafs’ season opener against the Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 12. In addition to missing out on Monday’s game, it’s not clear if he can get into action for the team’s final two pre-season games later in the week against the Detroit Red Wings.

But Engvall took part in more of Sunday’s practice session than Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe expected.

“That’s a sign to me that he’s feeling good out there and that’s positive,” Keefe said. “If that continues we’ll obviously ramp him up but I haven’t had any discussions to see if he’d be able to play this weekend.”

Engvall was an effective shutdown player for the Maple Leafs last season and it’s likely he’ll project to be in the bottom-six group of forwards when he does eventually return.