Leafs' coach impatient for Dave Bolland's return

Patience.  That's what Toronto Maple Leafs' forward Dave Bolland needs from the organization, but one gets the feeling that Leafs' coach Randy Carlyle is running out of the invisible commodity.

The type of injury that Bolland suffered - the severing of a tendon in his ankle - isn't something that you can tape an aspirin to and call it good, yet Carlyle appears to have the air of a man who is long-accustomed to quick service, and from the way he talks Bolland isn't healing fast enough.

“It’s up to him now to tell us when he’s ready,”

In fact, Carlyle has been impatient with the entire process, particularly since Bolland hit the 10 week point in his recovery, which is the amount of time that it took Ottawa's Eric Karlsson to return from a partially severed Achilles tendon - and judging from the timing of his remarks, that's the recovery precedent that he expected from Bolland's injury.

"There is a push going to be taking place for him to take the necessary steps to get back," Carlyle said on January 18th, ten weeks to the day after Bolland had surgery to repair the severed tendon, then launching into an update on his skater.

"He looks better than he did the first time on the ice." Carlyle continued. "Everything else we have done with him, from running, from bounding, from walking steps, his ability to get better every day has gone in leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. But I can't give you a possible return date yet."

Bolland was hit by Vancouver Canucks' goon right wing Zack Kassian in Canucks' 4-0 drubbing of the Leafs on November 2nd, raising his skate blade in what some feel was a definite kicking motion, cutting Bolland's leg. He laid on the ice for some time afterwards and need help off the ice from teammates.

Maple Leafs' general manager Dave Nonis seems to be willing to ride out the rehab process, in contrast to his bench boss.  “He’s pushing it as hard as he can,” Nonis said. “I’ve got no problem with his effort to try and get back.”

Nor does his agent, Anton Thun, who stands to benefit greatly when Bolland hits the free agent market this summer and wants him back out on the ice to show potential suitors that his client is healthy and worthy of a hefty contract, but also understand that if he returns before he's 100% that his lack of overall mobility will hurt his chances at said pay raise...

...not to mention what would happen if he blew out his ankle again - and to get back out in a competitive situation at this point, Bolland would not be able to fully protect himself, though the injury is healing.

"The whole ankle structure has a ways to go. It’s all interconnected,” Thun said, “It’s not a day-to-day type of thing. He’s just not ready. There’s two things that need to take place: one is the healing process, and then he needs to get his strength up again.”

If all goes well, Bolland could be back for the playoffs.