Carolina Hurricanes forward Bryan Bickell has been cleared to make his return to the ice. The team made the announcement Thursday, along with the news that he’d been placed on waivers for an AHL assignment.
Bickell, 30, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in November 2016 and has remained determined to continue his hockey career.
The veteran has been out of the lineup since Oct. 30, and played just seven games with Carolina this season since being acquired by the club last June.
As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman explained via Twitter, the move to waive Bickell allows the organization to keep him with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers for longer than a typical two-week conditioning stint.
Bickell has been practising with the Hurricanes for over a month now.
“I’ll tell you what: he’s done everything he possibly can to get himself ready and get back at it, so we’ll see where it leads,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said of Bickell earlier in February. “It’s an unreal source of inspiration, and his attitude has been fantastic through this whole thing. I give him nothing but credit there.”
Before joining Carolina, Bickell had spent his entire career with the Chicago Blackhawks, registering 65 goals and 70 assists in 384 regular season games with the club, and won three Stanley Cups.