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This article was published 03/01/2012 (5093 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE Winnipeg Jets are starting to get healthy again.

Centre Bryan Little, who has been out of the lineup with a foot injury, could return to practice this morning, head coach Claude Noel told reporters Monday. Little has missed six games after taking a shot off the foot in the first period in a game against the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 17.

While the Jets (19-14-5) are 4-1-1 in his absence, the club would welcome its No. 1 centre back skating between Evander Kane and Blake Wheeler. Little has 11 goals and 20 points in 32 games this season.

The club hopes to have him in the lineup when they take on the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.

The news wasn’t as optimistic for defenceman Dustin Byfuglien, whose return might not come until the weekend at the earliest. Byfuglien is dealing with a lower-body injury and won’t start the four-game trip with the club, Noel said.

Best-case scenario: He will be ready to join the team next week in Boston.

Noel dismissed the suggestion that the Jets (19-14-5) shouldn’t be in any hurry to get Little and Byfuglien back, considering the club has won three straight games and is playing some of its finest hockey of the season.

“We don’t judge it that way — good players are good players,” he said. “You miss players. I listen to the medical guys and let them go. I’m not (big) on pushing guys in if they’re 80 per cent. For me, they got to be way closer than that.”

In other injury news, centre Jim Slater was back on the ice after missing two games with a rib/oblique injury. He expects to suit up against the Habs, he says.

Meanwhile, defenceman Derek Meech was skating with the team for the first time after undergoing a procedure to clean out an ailing knee. The 27-year-old has been dealing with the injury since last season and said a second surgery was required to help relieve some of the pressure on the joint.

Though the Winnipeg product lists himself as “day-to-day,” Meech figures he’ll still need more time.

“Overall, it felt pretty decent,” he said. “There’s still some soreness there and some uncertainty, but I think we’re on the right track here now. It’s more a (timid feeling), like not fully confident to do everything yet. There were a couple of times when I bumped around a little bit (Monday) and it felt pretty good.”

Meech, who hasn’t played since an Oct. 20 game in Ottawa, said that’s the biggest hurdle for him as he tries to get back into the lineup. Physically, the knee will come along; mentally, though, banging into other players on the ice is the only thing that can put his mind at ease.

With Randy Jones healthy and timetables for Byfuglien and Meech now set in terms of days, the Jets are going to find themselves with some roster decisions to make down the road. The club won’t keep nine rearguards in Winnipeg, meaning a player (or two) will need to be dispatched to St. John’s — barring another injury, of course.

— Wazny;