- Ansar Khan of MLive: Daniel Alfredsson wants to play this year, but it’s up to his body.
“When you do it every day for a couple of weeks we’ll see how it feels,” Alfredsson said. “Make sure it holds up and it’s not just feeling good for a little bit and then you’re in and out all year long. That’s not what anybody wants.
“Every day it’s been progressing good. As we push more and more it’s going to be more telling.”Alfredsson will decide before they leave for the start of training camp in Traverse City on September 17th.
“If Alfie tells me he can’t play hockey, my decision has been made,” general manager Ken Holland said. “If Alfie tells me he feels great, and he wants to play hockey then we have to sit down and talk.
“He wants to play. He wants to be fair to the Detroit Red Wings. And he wants to put himself through an everyday test that starts this week.”
- Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Penguins Pascal Dupuis hasn’t been cleared for any contact yet, but seven months after ACL surgery, he’s feeling good.
“My skin, I don’t have any sensation anymore, on the front, because they cut all the nerves and everything,” Dupuis said Wednesday.
“When I have my equipment on, I’m fine because when I fall, I feel . But if I don’t have anything on and I go to kneel down, I have to think about where I’m at physically, because I don’t feel it when my knee goes down.”
“I feel I’m where I should be,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been a long process to get where I am now.”
- Hope Smoke: Maple Leafs Stephane Robidas on the Fan 590: “I’m feeling great. I’ve been skating since the end of June”… “I was in Toronto last week. I’m not cleared yet for contact, but I have been skating really hard” … “After the first injury, I worked really hard to come back because I knew I was a UFA at the end of the year” … “After the second injury, I thought that maybe it was my last game in the NHL. After watching playoff hockey I knew I couldn’t stop”
- Matthew Sekeres: According to Canucks GM Jim Benning, 2014 1st round pick Jake Virtanen won’t be cleared for contact through mid-October.
- Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald: Bruins winger Milan Lucic is skating on his own. He had offseason wrist surgery.
