Vancouver Canucks' Ilya Mikheyev skates with the puck during NHL pre-season action against the Calgary Flames in Vancouver on Sept., 25, 2022.Ilya Mikheyev’s long journey back to health is nearly over.
The Vancouver Canucks winger joined his teammates Tuesday at the University of B.C. for a full practice for the first time since January. He’d skated in a non-contact jersey in Victoria on the weekend, but on Tuesday he was wearing a resplendent red jersey, denoting he was an option for Elias Pettersson’s line.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Nils Höglander, who have been skating with Pettersson since training camp opened last Thursday, were also in red.Mikheyev hurt his knee a year ago in the first game of the 2022-23 pre-season but continued to play until the middle of the season, when he was shut down and went under the knife to repair a torn ACL in his right knee in early February.
He was expected to skate at training camp in a non-contact jersey but was delayed after a family issue arose and he had to return to Vancouver.