Vancouver Canucks forward Ryan Kesler’s recovery from off-season surgery has been pushed back several months, the Vancouver Province reports.
“I don’t think it’s fair to have any sort of time frame when he’s going to be 100 per cent and cleared to play. I don’t have a crystal ball and it’s certainly months away, it’s not weeks away. It’s several months away,” Kesler’s agent Kurt Overhardt told the Vancouver province.
Kesler had off-season surgery on his left shoulder on May 8 and surgery on Jun. 27 on his left wrist.
The 28-year-old was re-evaluated two weeks ago to assess his recovery progress. It was determined that the progress has been slow.
“The re-evaluation was positive in that the surgeries were successful,” Overhardt said.
“However, the compounding nature of both of those surgeries being on the same side of the body, it’s been very hard to properly rehab either one of the them — particularly the shoulder — because that’s obviously a big deal.”
Despite the news, the Canucks are staying optimistic.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s months away — that’s news to me — and I haven’t been given a timeline,” assistant general manager Laurence Gilman told the paper. “The rehab for his shoulder was complicated by the surgery that happened with his wrist and it has impacted his ability to build strength in his shoulder.
“It’s a gradual process and he’s improving every day. We assume he’ll be healthy in due course but when that’s going to be, at this stage that’s not clear.”
