Centre Mathieu Perreault looks set to return to the Winnipeg Jets lineup for Game 5 on Saturday night in Nashville.

He left the ice at the conclusion of the team's skate on Saturday, a sign that his return appears imminent.

Perreault, 30, has been out of action since picking up an injury during Game 1 of the Jets' first-round series with the Minnesota Wild on April 11.

The Jets have classified Perreault's injury as upper-body, following a hit from the Wild's Mikko Koivu.

A native of Drummondville, Que., Perreault took part in practice with a regular sweater on Thursday morning ahead of Game 4, but did not feature in the game, something that disappointed him.

“I felt like I could have played, yes," Perreault said on Friday. "But it’s not my call obviously, so it comes down to coach’s decision. So I let them know I felt good, I wanted to play, and there’s nothing else I can do.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice defended the decision to keep Perreault out by tying it to Joel Armia's return to the lineup for Game 4.

"It wasn’t close, fellas," Maurice said. "I’m not saying how close it is. [Perreault] feels he’s ready to play, that’s really, really important. The docs like where he’s at, that’s really important. I’m not putting two guys in my lineup that I’m concerned about coming in off injury on any single given night."

Armia had missed the first three games of the series with an upper-body injury.

Perreault appeared in 70 games for the Jets this season, scoring 17 goals and adding 22 assists. While it's unclear as of yet who will be making way for Perreault in the Jets lineup for Game 5, Postmedia's Ken Wiebe noted that Matt Hendricks stayed behind for extra work following Saturday morning's skate, an indicator that it could be him.

The best-of-seven series is tied 2-2.