The defenseman, who has missed the past 14 games with a shoulder injury, practiced with the Maple Leafs the past two days. He has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 60 games.
When asked how he's feeling, Dermott said, "Really good. I've been taking my time working hard every day with the strength guys and sport science guys. I'm pretty happy to be back at this point and am looking forward to that first game back."
Defenseman Jake Gardiner, who has missed the past 15 games with a back injury, wore a red noncontact jersey when he skated with the Maple Leafs on Thursday for the first time since he last played on Feb. 25. Practice on Friday focused primarily on special teams, so Gardiner skated on his own; however, coach Mike Babcock said he had no setback and that he is expected to skate with his teammates Saturday morning.
"[Gardiner] said (he was feeling) really good [when I spoke with him] so that's positive," Babcock said. "He said to me he felt like he had no quick twitch yesterday, not being on with the guys in a long time, so that's natural. I'd like to see him in the last two games before [the Stanley Cup Playoffs], to give him the best opportunity. He's an important, important, important player for our team."
Toronto, which trails the Boston Bruins by six points for second place in the Atlantic Division, has five games remaining.
Gardiner has 29 points (two goals, 27 assists) in 60 games. He said it has been difficult not being able to play during the past month but that he is happy a return appears imminent.
"You want to be flying going into the playoffs and it's never easy to be hurt, especially at a time like this when you have such a good team and you want to be a part of it," Gardiner said Thursday. "It's been getting better, so that's a positive. I'm improving so that's the important part."
The Maple Leafs experimented with two new power-play units Friday. For much of the season, the top unit consisted of forwards John Tavares in the net-front position, Auston Matthews on the left half boards, Nazem Kadri in the slot and Mitchell Marner at the right half boards, with defenseman Morgan Rielly at the blue line.
On Friday, one unit featured forward Patrick Marleau in the net-front position with Tavares on the left half boards, Kadri in the slot, Marner on the right half boards and defenseman Jake Muzzin at the blue line. The other also had four forwards -- Zach Hyman in the net-front position, Matthews on the left half boards, Andreas Johnsson in the slot, William Nylander on the right half boards -- with Rielly at the blue line.
"All we're trying to do is make sure we have good options, especially if things don't work," Babcock said. "Our power play's been pretty good, the harder we work on it, the more success it has. This gave us a good opportunity here today just focusing on the power play and penalty kill to have a look at it. With a few games left, we'll try it a few times for sure. But that doesn't mean we won't be going back to the way we were."
Tavares said it is important to have different tactics available in a playoff series, when the familiarity between two teams becomes even higher than the regular season.
"As we go further along here and you see a team every other day in the playoffs," he said, "you want to be unpredictable and find different ways to come at teams."
