Another Vegas Golden Knights injury seems to be nearing its end.
Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud was wearing a standard jersey in Sunday's team practice, a sign that he could be suiting up for the club in its first week back from the All-Star break.
Whitecloud has missed almost two months of play after a collision in Vegas' game against the Boston Bruins on Dec. 11, an injury that put him on the injured reserve list the very next day.
"I'm feeling good," Whitecloud told the media after Sunday's practice. "Obviously coming back, I think everyone that comes back from injury, there's a little bit of a hesitation mentally. Some confidence issues and things like that. But that's all part of the process of working back through things and just getting back to that level of being able to go out there and help the team."
Whitecloud said taking reps in practice has been the key to rebuilding his confidence.
"When you're skating by yourself, doing the recovery skates and stuff like that, I think you focus on your injury a lot more," he said. "And I was actually just talking to John Stevens out there about it because he had some leg issues as well. But I think just being able to get in amongst the team and like bump and get pushed around and not be able to think about that helps with the confidence of that, if that makes sense."
This lengthy period of time off has been a whole new experience for the original Golden Knight.
"This is my first time going through something like this, so it's tough to navigate, right?" Whitecloud said. "Because you just, you don't know what to feel. You don't know how to feel physically. You don't know the routine of which you go through to get back. Everything's new, right? ... So it was a huge learning curve for me, and anytime you can learn from those things, -- obviously I would have preferred not to have gone through two months of working out and recovering and all that -- at the end of the day, it's something that's going to make me a better hockey player and person and mature from it a little bit."
The Golden Knights take on the Nashville Predators on Tuesday for their first game back from the All-Star break.
Follow along with VGK Today for live updates throughout the contest.
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