Another NHL off-season means another summer of healing for Jamie Benn.
Only this time, the deadline for recovery is a little bit tighter.
Not quite halfway through his estimated six-week recovery timeline after undergoing successful core muscle surgery on July 14, Benn is confident he’ll be back in good health in time for September’s World Cup of Hockey.
“That’s the main focus I’m training towards being able to make it for World Cup,” Benn told the Dallas Morning News‘ Mike Heika on Saturday.
Team Canada’s training camp opens Sept. 5, with their first game set to take place Sept. 17 against Czech Republic.
“There’s not much time left, but there’s still enough,” said the Dallas Stars captain, who signed a massive eight-year, $76-million extension the day after his procedure.
“I think I’ll get on the ice later this week and just keep ramping it up a little more each time,” he said. “I still think that’s a lot of time, enough time for me to be ready to jump into high-level hockey. We’ll see how it goes.”
The 2015 Art Ross Trophy winner is no stranger to off-season surgery—he required two separate hip surgeries in April and May of 2015, and played all 82 games of the 2015-16 campaign after making a full recovery.
“I feel pretty good. I’m making progress,” he said. “The hardest part is just trying not to do too much too early. We’re sticking to the rehab program and working our way forward.”
Benn was named to Team Canada’s World Cup squad back in March as part of Hockey Canada’s initial 16-player roster.
Benn didn’t point to a specific incident that caused the injury, but indicated that it was “just a funny feeling” he had during training, and that something “just didn’t feel right.”
