Kesler still “months away” from rehabbing offseason surgeries

Initial estimates indicated that Ryan Kesler would recover from offseason wrist and shoulder surgeries around this time, yet his agent Kurt Overhardt told Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province that he could be “several months away” from being fully healed.

“The re-evaluation was positive in that the surgeries were successful,” Overhardt said. “However, the compounding nature of both of those surgeries being on the same side of the body, it’s been very hard to properly rehab either one of the them — particularly the shoulder — because that’s obviously a big deal.

“I don’t think it’s fair to have any sort of time frame when he’s going to be 100 per cent and cleared to play. I don’t have a crystal ball and it’s certainly months away, it’s not weeks away. It’s several months away.”

Kuzma reports that the Vancouver Canucks “beg to differ” regarding that several months timeline, but either way, it appears that his progress hasn’t been as speedy as expected – even taking his urge to be careful into account.

Kesler underwent shoulder surgery on May 8 and the wrist procedure on June 27, with both happening on his left side.

The valuable center is taking precautions with his rehab after learning his lesson last season. Kesler underwent hip surgery during the 2011 offseason only to rush his return and struggle early on in 2011-12.

While his agent and team disagree about when he’ll be 100 percent, it sounds like he won’t be ready to play if the lockout ends anytime soon.