Nolan Patrick is back. Almost.

Patrick, first in Future Considerations’ Winter ranking for the 2017 NHL Draft, is hoping to play when the Brandon Wheat Kings host the Kootenay Ice on Friday.

“That’s the plan,” Wheat King GM Grant Armstrong told Bob McKenzie of TSN. “[Monday] will be his first (cleared for) contact practice, so he’ll practice full up this week and he aims to play Friday so long as the rest of the week goes well.”

Patrick has not played since Oct. 11 because of an unspecified upper-body injury.

He has four goals and nine points in six games this season.