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Vancouver’s Manny Malhotra cleared for contact after eye surgery; Could he play in the finals?

Malhotra Canucks Practice

Vancouver Canucks’ Manny Malhotra, who has been out with a serious eye injury requiring two surgeries since March 16, watches hockey practice from the bench in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, May. 13, 2011. The Canucks face the San Jose Sharks in NHL Stanley Cup playoffs Western Conference finals in Game 1 on Sunday in Vancouver. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Geoff Howe)

AP

With the Stanley Cup finals set to start on Wednesday, we’ve had a host of storylines pop up with the Vancouver Canucks. From the Sedins, to Ryan Kesler, to Roberto Luongo there’s a lot of things to zero in. One player who has been absent from the playoffs and from the Canucks lineup since mid-March is Manny Malhotra.

As you might recall, Malhotra was struck in the eye by a puck on March 16th, an injury that left Malhotra in danger of losing his eyesight in that eye and potentially ending his career. After two successful surgeries on the eye, Malhotra was fortunate to get the use out of his eye back even with reduced vision in the eye. While he’s been working out of late it wasn’t believed that Malhotra would be able to come back to hockey this season or what the timetable would be on when or if he’d be able to play hockey again.

Today, Malhotra was cleared for full contact in practices with the Canucks and opening up the possibility we could see him suit up for the Canucks in the Stanley Cup finals. TSN’s Bob McKenzie breaks down the possibilities ahead for Canucks coach Alain Vigneault when it comes to perhaps playing Malhotra and creating one of the most amazing stories of the year.

Malhotra has been steadily ramping up the intensity of his on-ice workouts. Now, though, assured by doctors that the only way he could damage the eye is by taking direct contact by a puck or stick on the eye, he will be able to take the next step in practice and engage in contact and battle drills that will give him a better idea if he’s fully ready for the rigors of an NHL Stanley Cup final playoff game.

Anyone watching Malhotra practice recently has seen that he appears comfortable taking draws. He’s been working hard on his conditioning.


Malhotra will wear a full face shield like the one in the photo attached to this story so taking direct damage to the eye would be unlikely. Still, he’ll have reduced vision in his left eye and if the Canucks are thinking of putting him, doing so in the Stanley Cup finals after not having played since mid-March does come with risks. Even if Malhotra plays on the fourth line at limited minutes mistakes and risks are still there. You’d think it would be unlikely that Alain Vigneault would take a chance there, but if Malhotra is ready and he can play the way he did in the regular season... Astounding.

Should Malhotra play and do the same thing he was doing during the year, he’s a tremendous defensive center with the ability to dominate at faceoffs while shutting down opponents top forwards. Suffice to say, if Malhotra can come back and do that again life will be made awfully difficult for the likes of David Krejci, Vincent Lecavalier, or Steve Stamkos. The Canucks have done well in spite of Malhotra’s absence but if they can get him back that makes either Boston or Tampa Bay’s task even harder to win the Stanley Cup against the favored Canucks.

For now, we’ll hope for the best for Malhotra and hope that we will indeed see him suit up again. If that happens during the Stanley Cup finals though... What a story.