Peter Forsberg and Derian Hatcher, both sidelined for most of training camp by injuries, practiced Monday with the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time.
Forsberg skated Friday but hadn’t practiced since having surgery to remove a bursa sack from his right ankle this month. Hatcher was sidelined with a sprained left knee, an injury suffered Sept. 6 at the U.S. Olympic team orientation camp in Colorado Springs.
“It’s good to finally be back with the guys on the ice, and it didn’t feel that bad,” Forsberg said. “The ankle hurts a little bit, but it’s going to be fine moving forward.”
Forsberg took part in the first of two skates with the team, though his ankle is still not 100 percent.
“It’s going to be a little hard and maybe it’s going to take a few more days,” he said.
Hatcher stayed on the ice for both sessions, which totaled about 90 minutes.
“Skating with the team is a step in the right direction, so in that sense it felt good,” Hatcher said. “I’m assuming that Peter will be back for probably a game, and hopefully I can play a game or two in the exhibition. It’s definitely important to try to get everyone going before the start of the year.”
Flyers captain Keith Primeau left the ice during the first of two skates with a bruised left shoulder and didn’t return. He is questionable for tonight’s preseason game against the New York Islanders.
Neither Forsberg nor Hatcher will play against the Islanders.
Kings: A day after suffering the 11th concussion of his career, forward Jeremy Roenick expressed concern about possible whiplash but seemed resolved to return to the ice this week.
“I have no doubt I’ll be playing next Wednesday,” Roenick said, referring to the Kings’ Oct. 5 season opener at Dallas. “I’m going to take a couple days and regroup myself and I’ll be fine.”
Roenick saw an eye doctor, who assured him the “floaters” he saw Sunday night were no cause for concern, but there certainly is no guarantee Roenick will be back for the start of the season.
“He says he feels pretty good, so right now we’d probably say he’s day-to-day,” general manager Dave Taylor said. “But with this type of thing, you never really know.”
Roenick left Sunday’s game in the second period after Phoenix’s Denis Gauthier delivered a clean but brutal shoulder check near the boards. Roenick said he felt as well as could be expected.
“I have a real stiff neck, a whiplash sort of deal, so that’s kind of resonating a little pain through my head, but for the most part I feel pretty good,” Roenick said.
Roenick will have to be cleared before he can return to practice, and Monday he continued to express frustration toward Gauthier, saying the big hit was uncalled for in a preseason game and that he had eased up on Gauthier in a similar situation in a game last week.
“I had him lined up,” Roenick said. “I could have put him in the fifth row of the stands, put him through the glass.”
Capitals: Washington acquired left wing Jeff Friesen from the New Jersey Devils for a conditional 2006 draft pick.
The deal gives the Capitals a proven forward and allows the Devils to trim salary so they can get under the NHL’s new $39 million cap. Friesen is set to make $2.28 million this season.
New Jersey went an allowed amount over the salary cap when it signed forward Alexander Mogilny last month but faced an Oct. 1 deadline to get under the threshold. In the 2003-04 season, Friesen had 17 goals and 20 assists for the Devils.
Red Wings: Forward Pavel Datsyuk, who finished tied for the team lead with 30 goals in 2003-04, signed a two-year contract that will pay him $3.9 million per season.
