After a challenging three-month absence and surgery, Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov skates with his team again, signaling a hopeful return.
For the first time in over three months, Carolina Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov was back out on the ice with the team, skating toward the end of Saturday's practice.
"It's fun," Kochetkov said on his return to the ice. "Fun to see the guys on the ice and it's just very special for me now because I've had a long time skating alone and with goalie coach. It was tough. Tough mentally. What I can say now is that I'm happy to be closer with the guys and skate together and see the boys."
It's been a long time coming for Kochetkov, who's been on the shelf since it was announced on Dec. 29 that he would be undergoing surgery, which the netminder admitted there was more than one of.
The 26-year-old goalie had been dealing with a particular lingering issue for "a long time," but a new problem arose during training camp that pushed the netminder to shut his season down and elect for surgery.
"After probably some time, it was just every day," Kochetkov said. "Every day just no feels good. It's every day I feel this. I feel it when I skate, when I'm off ice, when I go sleep. It was every day. I tried my best to play, to come back every time, but just after every game, it just felt more and more. And then there was a moment where I just understood I no can play because it was just too much for me and dangerous for my future and for my career."
This was the first time in his career that Kochetkov has had to deal with a long-term injury in season. He's missed time here or there, but never in a three-month chunk like this.
"I've had surgeries before, just more in summer time and so I no lose games," Kochetkov said. "This is my first time in my career where [I've been out] for long time. I play maybe seven or eight games this season. It was tough. Very tough time for my girlfriend too because every day she's together with me. That's tough, for sure, more probably."
At the time of his surgery, it was announced that the Russian netminder was likely to miss the remainder of the season, but it seems that surgery went well for him and it also looks like he's been working hard to make a return.
Kochetkov wasn't going to just let the season slip by without giving a return a shot and now he's now perhaps closer than many people thought he'd be at this point.
"Tough time for me," Kochetkov said. "Tough mentally, tough on my body, but now I feel much better. Just every day, step-by-step, we'll see."
That's not to say necessarily that Kochetkov will be able to return to game action this season, but it's still a promising sign to see him back out there and taking shots.
"He wasn't in a regular practice, but it's a step in the right direction for him, for sure, coming off of that injury," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour.
"It's tough to say," Kochetkov said when asked if he felt close to a full return. "It was the first time I skate with the team. It's very good for me because I want to understand where I am now. When you skate just with the goalie coach, it's tough to understand what your level is. Today, Svech scored on me a couple — probably a bad moment for me. I don't know. I'm probably very far from play if he scores on me. But we'll see. It's step-by-step. For me, I just need more time and I hope to understand after a couple of practices."
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