Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin had to miss the end of the 2020-2021 regular season after being grazed on the neck by a cross-check from Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. While Larkin avoided surgery for his neck injury, he was limited in his mobility for a good chunk of the offseason.
As such, his report to The Athletic’s Max Bultman regarding his health, while the Power Edge Pro camp visits Detroit, is all good news:
“I feel great,” Larkin said. “Kind of a little blessing, I think, with how my summer’s been — it’s been a lot of rehab, a lot of recovery. I think I needed that.”
In reflecting on the 2020 offseason, Larkin said he thought he might have overdone it a bit while pushing himself so hard during the extra-long, pandemic-induced offseason. (The Red Wings were one of just seven teams that were in their offseason for 10 full months between 2019-20 and 2020-21.)
This time, he was forced into a period of recovery, and as Larkin now gears up for the start of the 2021-22 campaign, he said he’s feeling “refreshed and ready to go.”
The exact timeline, however, is still unfolding, with contact an obviously important benchmark.
“It’s something that is weekly, daily, it depends — I just have to still be cautious,” Larkin said. “I’m trying to push myself to be ready, and I think I will, but there’s still a little bit of an unknown with how everything’s going to respond. But so far, it’s looking good and I’m excited.”
Continued (paywall)
