We’ve seen bits and pieces of Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn as he rehabs his surgically repaired hips, especially in the past few weeks as he started to skate again at the team’s practice facility in Frisco.
On Thursday, Edward Egros of FOX4 caught up with Benn in more detail on his recovery, filming some of the daily rehab exercises he’s been doing to build the strength back up in his core and legs.
Here’s the story, which ran last night:
(Full disclaimer: Ed and I went to college together at SMU and were in many of the same classes given our shared interest in sports journalism. I preen like a peacock whenever he does hockey stories. I did not teach him everything or even more than a little of what he knows about hockey, but I do enjoy seeing how far he’s come since first sitting down to watch the Stars play the Blues in a classroom at Umphrey Lee.)
What’s interesting to note is the progression in the skating drills Benn is doing, from simple C-cuts without his skates leaving the ice in the first video that was released to tight turns with legs on the ice in a more recent one to tiny, crossover-like strides showcased here. From a biomechanical perspective, this makes sense as they are gradually working on athletic flexibility as they rebuild strength in the joint with the off-ice drills.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but Benn has mentioned that he feels like he’ll be ready for the start of training camp in mid-September and definitely good to go for the season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 8. Judging by his relatively quick progression in rehab so far, he seems to be right on track.