Hamhuis looking forward to return from freak injury

The Vancouver Canucks received some good news on the injury front Thursday as defenceman Dan Hamhuis took part in his team’s morning skate.
Hamhuis, who has been sidelined with a groin injury since Nov. 20, is slated to participate in a regular practice with the team Friday and will join the Canucks on their upcoming five-game road trip.
“I’m feeling really good,” said Hamhuis before the Canucks faced the Florida Panthers and former teammate Roberto Luongo without him. “I’ve been skating (alone) for a while now. I finally took the step (Thursday) to skate with my teammates, so it’s something been looking forward to for a while. It’s a lot more fun skating with my teammates than by (myself).
“Injuries are never fun to deal with. With this one, we knew that it was going to be a long-term thing. We’ve got a great medical team here with the Canucks, and we tried to benefit from this as much as I could, work on certain parts of my game, certain deficiencies that now we’ve had time to work on. Since coming back skating, I’ve been feeling strong and I’m looking forward to getting back.”
Prior to the injury, Hamhuis compiled six assists and a minus-five mark while average 20:36 of ice time in 20 games. He was injured in a rare mishap in Vancouver’s home game against Anaheim.
“It’s just one of those, I’d say, freak injuries where I was in somewhat of an extended position, and just (took) a little bump of a skate,” he said. “It was enough to tear the groin, and I kind of knew right away what it was. I knew I was in for a long rehab, but I’m happy that it’s gone really well and that the team’s done an outstanding job of getting me back to this point. So far, I’m ahead of schedule.”
Hamhuis and the Canucks medical staff “wrestled” with the question of whether surgery was necessary, but they opted to go with a rehabilitation program instead. The Smithers, B.C., native used the time to strengthen all of his groin area, with the goal of making the muscles stronger than they were before the injury occurred.
He originally expected to be out two months, but it appears he will be back sooner than expected.
“This is something that we evaluate each day,” he said. “Things can change. You go out there and step on a puck or something. I’d love to get into a game here before the all-star break, but it’s hard to set an exact date. The sooner, the better.”
Meanwhile, centre Brad Richardson and winger Radim Vrbata returned to Vancouver’s lineup Thursday.