Brady Tkachuk stood at a podium, his right thumb in a cast covered with tape, and talked about the long road to recovery.
The Ottawa Senators captain would rather have been getting ready to face the Philadelphia Flyers at the Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night than speak for the first time since he had surgery to repair a completely torn ligament in his thumb, but his only choice is to skate and wait.
After meeting Dr. Robert Hotchkiss on Monday in New York to see how the recovery from the two-hour procedure he had last Thursday is coming along, he spoke with the media for the first time on Wednesday since the injury occurred against the Nashville Predators 10 days ago.
“All I want to do is be out there,” Tkachuk said on Wednesday. “You train so hard and so long in the summer, and I felt best that I’ve ever felt coming into this year. It’s a little bump in the road.
“I’ll now take this time to not sulk. When I come back, I don’t want to just be status quo — there is going to be a level to my game that I’m going to be able to get to in the next couple of weeks.”
Tkachuk remains confident he’ll be back within the six-to-eight week timeframe given by the doctors, but was non-committal on a specific timeline.
“It’s too early to say. I’m going to try to get back on the first possible day, but I haven’t looked at what that day is,” Tkachuk said.
This was major surgery.
“They fully repaired the ligament. It was fully torn and stabilized the joints,” Tkachuk said. “I was under a nice little two-hour nap. It was good. They said it went awesome and very smooth.”
It shouldn’t affect his participation with Team USA in the Olympics in February.
“The timeline that came out gives us a lot of time before (the Games),” Tkachuk said. “That’s not really in my thought process. My sole focus is getting back to help this team get ourselves in the best spot possible.”
The hit happened early in the game, but Tkachuk was on the bench for the final 10 minutes without taking a shift. He kept playing with it, but knew he was in trouble when he couldn’t get a shot off on a partial breakaway.
“Usually on any given day, I’m very confident,” Tkachuk said. “I knew right when I shot that it was a complete muffin. My (thumb) was killing me right when I shot it too, so I knew then, and every time I touched the puck, it was bothering me.
“I felt like I wasn’t playing the way I needed to play. Eventually, I couldn’t hold onto my stick. It’s shitty that it happened, but it’s part of the game. It’s the first time going through it, so it’s something I’m going to tackle head-on and be better because of it.”
Tkachuk said the doctors have told him he’ll be able to start handling the puck again in three to four weeks. Until then, he’ll be doing a lot of work on his skating. That started on Tuesday with power skating coach Shelley Kettles.
“That will be a lot of fun,” Tkachuk said with a smile. “But there are a lot of areas of my game where I don’t need pucks that I can be better at. I’m excited about that challenge, fixing up any weaknesses and turning them into strengths.”
Tkachuk said not being able to play and contribute will be difficult because this club is trying to make the playoffs for a second straight year. He believes the Senators will improve on their 2-4-1 start through seven games.
“It’s definitely tough. At the start of the season, you want to put yourself in the best position possible,” Tkachuk said. “With our group, we’re right there. Last night, we could have gotten a point and the game before we could have as well. That’s two points.
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“We’re right there and I know everything is magnified at the start of the season, but what I’ve been saying to the guys, and everybody in this organization, is that I have belief and faith in this group. I won’t even say to get it turned around, but I know we’re getting back to our identity and not leaving the games to chance.
“We’re getting a full 60-minute effort and really starting to play our way.”
Tkachuk will be spending a lot of time around his teammates. He spoke to coach Travis Green about wanting to maintain his role as the club’s captain throughout the process of returning to the ice. The hope is that he will only miss about 25 games.
Predators defenceman Roman Josi did reach out to Tkachuk to make sure he was OK.
“I feel like it was nice for him to do that,” Tkachuk said. “Of course, he didn’t have to and that’s part of the game, something that happens.”