Andrej Nestrasil was starting to find a spot in the Carolina Hurricanes lineup in 2015-16.
Then his season came to an unfortunate end in late February due to a fractured vertebra following a check from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri.
He missed the remainder of the season, finishing with nine goals and 14 assists in 55 games.
General manager Ron Francis said on Saturday at the team’s summerfest that Nestrasil’s recovery this summer is going very well and that they expect him to fully recover and be 100 percent (via the Hurricanes’ website).
Nestrasil was even back on the ice earlier this week.
Andrej Nestrasil is back on the ice after suffering a fractured vertebra in February! #Redvolution pic.twitter.com/hkDqAjsuyQ
— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) July 18, 2016
The 25-year-old Nestrasil has 16 goals and 27 assists in 109 career games with the Red Wings and Hurricanes.
What stood out the most about his 2015 performance is that because of his strong two-way play he was one of the team’s top possession players when he was in the lineup.
The Hurricanes have a young, talented, up-and-coming roster that could make them a sleeper team when it comes to making the playoffs in the Eastern Conference this season. They’ve always been a top possession team and now have an impressive group of young defensemen just starting to hit their stride in the NHL.
With some solid goaltending this could be a very good team, very quickly.
If Nestrasil is able to fully recover from that injury he figures to be a big part of that.
