from Mike Spellman of the Chicago Daily-Herald,

Toews and Kane have gotten used to the lonely life of injury rehab in the NHL the past few weeks, but all that is about to change when the full squad gathers for practice Tuesday. And for the dynamic duo, it can't happen soon enough.

"Tomorrow I'll be out there with the boys, back to the usual routine. It's kind of nice," said Toews, who missed the final six games of the regular season with the dreaded upper-body injury. "It's not fun to be on your own program for a couple of weeks. It's one of the downsides."

Kane (knee) missed twice as many games at the end of the season as Toews did, so imagine how eager he is to get back at it against the Blues beginning Thursday night.

"I'm excited to get things going," he said. "I've watched a lot of hockey lately, so it's going to be nice to play in some games."

"I'm looking forward to being back."

When his two stars were on the shelf, coach Joel Quenneville said repeatedly that he expected both to be back and "100 percent" heading into the playoffs, and it appears that's right about where they are.

more