Brind'amour prepares to give Canes his all

Team captain returns from knee surgery feeling 'as good as I ever have'

RALEIGH -- Rod Brind'Amour skates from goal line to blue line, then back. Blue line and back. Time and again. He skates alone at one end of the RecZone rink, head down, pushing himself, testing himself, preparing himself for a season unlike any other.

The Carolina Hurricanes' captain isn't 25 or 30 years old. He's 38 and coming off reconstructive knee surgery that ended his season after 59 games.

Brind'Amour knows what the whispers will be this season should he go a few games without a goal, without a point.

"If you start out slow or you have a bit of a lull, everybody starts looking at you like, 'Oh, you're old' or 'You had a knee injury' as opposed to having the lulls you have every year," he said. "So your grace period is zero when you get to be older. All of a sudden, they start looking at you that you're older rather than being in a slump or whatever it is.

"I'm fully aware of what's going on, but I also feel as good as I ever have. That won't be an issue."

Brind'Amour was injured in the opening minutes of the Feb. 14 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the RBC Center. Collecting the puck along the boards, he was first hit on the left side by the Penguins' Nathan Smith. Turning, Brind'Amour then took a hit from the left from Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque.

Just like that, his season was over. Brind'Amour had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He went from player to patient, with Dr. Marty Isbell, the Canes' team surgeon, repairing the knee.

Now, he's back. Ready for a new season. Determined to lead the Canes to the playoffs again and into Stanley Cup contention.

"Rod looks like his old typical self," goalie Cam Ward said after a recent RecZone workout. "He looks really good, really fluid. You wouldn't think that he's had a bad knee injury.

"He's come a long way. He's done what was necessary to get himself back into the shape he is today."

For Brind'Amour, "what was necessary" meant six-days-a-week training sessions at the Athletic Performance Center, an extension of the Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic. Brind'Amour worked with physical therapist Jaime Holt, who helped the Canes' Justin Williams recover from a late-December knee injury last season.

"Rod is the hardest-working athlete I've ever worked with," Holt said. "He always asked for more -- more weight, more everything. I've never had to go so deep in the box to challenge an athlete."

Holt said Brind'Amour conceded he didn't always work smartly, that although he might have, say, 10 exercises for strengthening his abdominals or back, he needed more work on flexibility.

"He was so tight in his core that he almost couldn't move," Holt said. "We talked of how his strengths at 38 were his mind and experience, and what he needed was more quickness. He needed more hip flexibility."

One exercise Brind'Amour enjoyed, Holt said, was Pilates, exercises that focus on core postural muscles.

"I don't think Rod will mind me saying that," Holt said with a laugh. "He's just learning more about what the body needs for peak performance."

Early in his rehab, Brind'Amour was able to train with Williams, who had a torn ACL and a tear of the medial collateral ligament. Asked what advice he offered Brind'Amour, Williams smiled.

"He doesn't listen," he said. "He's stubborn, and he'll do things his own way. But by how hard he works, it just makes his leg that much stronger."

Brind'Amour insisted he could have returned to the lineup had the Canes reached the playoffs -- not just wishful thinking but an opinion shared by Holt.

"I wouldn't have been back right away but for sure second round," Brind'Amour said. "It gave me something to really shoot for -- to push to get back early."

But the Canes didn't make it. A loss at home to the Florida Panthers, in an all-or-nothing game, bitterly ended the season.

"Obviously, it was disappointing not to make the playoffs," he said. "But in a way, it might be better to give me more time to heal up and kind of put the injury behind me and be back 100 percent."

Brind'Amour said he will continue to wear a brace on the left knee during the season. While it provides protection, it's also a reminder of how quickly things can change or a season can end.

But the Canes expect to see Brind'Amour back at his best -- being physical, being a presence.

"He's our leader," Ward said. "We need him to be ready, and there's no question he is ready."