On Monday, Brent Burns said he was 100 percent healthy, and ready to be in the Sharks lineup Tuesday night.
It was just good timing I guess, Burns told me today.
Thanks to the All-Star Break, Burns will miss only one game, after suffering a knee-on-knee hit with Edmontons Ales Hemsky seven days ago. He credits the efforts of San Joses training staff, as well as unique treatments that have got his right knee back to playing shape.
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Weve got some tools that most people don't have, and that Ive never used before. I was shocked by how quick I got better, Burns revealed.
League wide, there's a lot of players that needed the time, said Sharks Head Coach Todd McLellan. Five days of mental and physical healing does wonders for a lot of people. It's going to take a little while to get the engine going may be sloppy initially but the rest is valuable it's something that we needed to take advantage of.
The other Sharks player we kept an eye on in practice today was Ryane Clowe. He participated for the full duration, without a cage or a visor attached to his helmet. Clowe has missed the last 5 games and spent the past 15 days recovering from a facial fracture.
After practice, Clowe declined to comment on his status, but McLellan was generally optimistic.
San Jose Sharks
I think the break did him wonders, Todd said. I asked him how that facial area felt. He said it's improving a lot, and he can breathe a lot better. So I think he's making real good strides right now.
But will those strides be enough to have San Joses best power forward back in the lineup, in less than 24 hours? After all, it was certainly uncharacteristic of Clowe to avoid addressing the topic publicly today.
We'll see how he is in the morning, McLellan told me. We know we have a lot of hockey left, we won't put him in a situation where he can't succeed, and he'll have a huge play in that himself. He'll be able to make the call.
That call will be made shortly after the Sharks practice tomorrow morning, in their game day skate.
You can follow Brodie in real-time on Twitter: @brodiebrazilCSN