Brind'Amour waits for injury to heal

Second surgery tests Canes captain

RALEIGH -- The Carolina Hurricanes put a strong line on the ice Sunday at the RBC Center -- Rod Brind'Amour, Ray Whitney and Tuomo Ruutu.

Unfortunately for the Canes, that was four hours before the exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Turns out, the Hurricanes didn't need the injured threesome. Carolina topped the Flyers 1-0 for their first exhibition win on Sergei Samsonov's first-period goal and strong play by goaltender Michael Leighton.

For Brind'Amour, sitting out games has been frustrating, irritating. He often seems like a Kentucky thoroughbred behind a starting gate, filled with anxious intensity.

Brind'Amour spent month after month rebuilding his left knee after the severe injury last season that required reconstructive surgery. Working out at the Athletic Performance Center in North Raleigh. Leading the informal workouts at the RecZone.

Then, days before training camp began, he needed more surgery to repair a cartilage tear.

"What's frustrating is that everything felt so good," he said Sunday. "In the training I was doing, all my numbers were better than last year.

"It was like, 'This is great, this has been good for me.' But ..."

In the Friesen 5K Fun Run on Sept. 14, Brind'Amour pushed himself down the last stretch. The knee began to ache.

"That's when it happened -- right in the last 100 meters," he said. "It was fine for the first 18 minutes of that run. I was feeling great and decided to put a little extra into it at the end.

"That's when something kind of went in there. I knew right away."

Two days later, Brind'Amour was in surgery again.

But no second-guessing, he said. In a way, he said, it may have been fortunate that the injury occurred when it did.

"It's better to find something then than a couple of weeks down the road," he said. "It would have been worse. It's just a little setback."

Brind'Amour has said he hoped to play in an exhibition game or two. He said that physically he was "getting there," adding the knee was "feeling better and better" but not 100 percent healed.

"I don't want to put any time [frame] on it because I say one thing and they tell me something else," he said. "I understand both sides of it, and I'll definitely be in there when it counts."

That would be Oct. 10, when the Canes open the regular season against the Florida Panthers.

"He's the type of guy who wants to practice every practice and doesn't want to miss games," coach Peter Laviolette said Sunday. "Especially coming off the injury last year, he's ready for some exhibition games to get his timing back and his game back.

"But the most important thing is to make sure he's healthy. He knows where it's at, and it's close, too."

What was worse -- for Brind'Amour and for the Canes -- was losing forward Justin Williams to a torn Achilles tendon. Williams, who also had major knee surgery last year, will be out four to six months.

"It was like deja vu, in a bad way," Brind'Amour said. "I walked in the training room and to see him on the table ... I kind of thought he was joking.

"He'd been through a lot, I'd been through a lot. I really feel for him, more than a teammate or a friend but in knowing what he's been through. This is his third major [injury] in a short period of time."

Brind'Amour said he's tried to help Williams keep his spirits up.

"I told him he's got a lot of years ahead of him, but it's tough right now," Brind'Amour said.

Brind'Amour all but dismissed the Canes' slow start in preseason, given the run of injuries. There has been no continuity in putting together lines or working on special teams play.

"I wouldn't read anything into it until you get the lineup in there," he said.