Frederik Andersen Returns To Practice For First Time Following Knee Surgery

Carolina Hurricanes netminder Frederik Andersen practiced with the team Wednesday afternoon for the first time since his knee surgery on Nov. 22.

"It's great," Andersen said on getting back out for practice. "It's obviously a good step toward getting closer to playing and it's fun to be back out there with the guys. Feels good."

The veteran goaltender had been skating on his own for at least a week now, so it's a good step to see him join the full group.

Andersen was rotating in net with Dustin Tokarski as the third goaltender at practice.

"It was nice to see him practicing," said Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour. "We're not sure how long it's going to take, but it's a good day one for him."

Andersen, 35, has dealt with a lot of adversity in the sense of injuries over his career and especially since coming to Carolina.

"You guys have seen that the last couple of years haven't been easy for me with the adversity and that type of stuff. I'm just trying to take it in stride with the right mindset and just trust that I'm doing as much as I can to be back quick and to be able to help the team win when I do get back the right way."

The Danish netminder has missed significant time whether it's been due to concussions, an MCL tear or the blood-clotting issues he dealt with last season.

So the knee injury was just another in a plentiful list of tough moments for Andersen.

"It obviously hasn't been a fun thing to go through," Andersen said. "Some adversity. But you just have to take it in stride. It's a tough sport to play. Sometimes you get beat up. But I'm just trying to take it with the right mindset and do what I can to get back as quick as possible and help the guys out."

Before that injury, Andersen was off to tremendous start to the year with a 3-1-0 record and 0.941 save percentage.

Andersen was initially given an 8-12 week timeline for returning, and we'll be coming up on seven weeks since the surgery on Friday.

If he can return to the lineup and find that game again, it will bode well for Carolina, but there still is no definitive timeline for his return.

"It's tough to say," Andersen said. "At this time of year, you just try to get as many practices in as possible. I know post-Christmas it's a tough game schedule so obviously guys will be maybe off a little bit more. So right now. I'm just focusing on being on the ice as much as possible. Getting live-action shots and as much unpredictability as possible is the next step so today was a good first step.