Hounds’ Thomas on the mend

Mike Verdone (Sault Star)

Justin Thomas hoped to return to the Soo Greyhounds lineup later this season.

But shoulder surgery last month has sidelined the 17-year-old forward and will keep him quiet for the next three months.

“I want to go back, but the doctor told me I wouldn’t be playing any games for about four months,” Thomas said Tuesday afternoon from southern Ontario.

He is recovering at his parents home in Melbourne, Ont. — about 30 kilometres southwest of London — from the surgery performed on Dec. 15 at Fowler Sports Medicine Clinic in London.

Thomas, 17, knows the injury has probably hurt his chances of being drafted high in NHL later this year. However, he’s trying not to think about that.

“Yeah, obviously it’s going to make people think, and maybe second guess themselves because I started off really well at the beginning of the season and this happened.

“In a way, it could affect me and in way it couldn’t. I just try to keep my mind off it and just think positive about everything and get myself back to where I was at the beginning of the season.”

Thomas suffered a separated shoulder early in October in a game against the Guelph Storm in the Sault, during a fight with Guelph’s Michael Latta.

“It was like a fluke. I was holding on to his jersey and he went to skate away after the fight and it just went.”

He was sidelined for about four weeks, but was injured early in November when he again dislocated the shoulder. This time in a game against Plymouth at Essar Centre.

“I sat out for about a month then came back and in the second game back it went again. I went to push a guy and the ref hit my arm and it just went out.”

Thomas played in just 11 regular season games for the Hounds, scoring four goals and notching three assists for seven points.

Although he is on the road to recovery and is beginning to exercise and skate, Hounds general manager and interim head coach, Dave Torrie, says the injury has likely hurt the teen’s chances in this year’s NHL draft.

“Absolutely, in the sense he was off to a good start and was on everybody’s radar. The old adage, ‘Out of sight, out of mind,’ definitely plays in,” Torrie said.

“He won’t be drafted as high as he possibly could have been if he played the whole year and continued his progress. A lot of people were talking about him being a top two-round NHL pick early in the year.”

Torrie said Thomas’s draft prospects are secondary right now. There’s always next year. The important thing is for the six-foot-three, 205-pound left winger to recover, and be ready for training camp next season.

“(He’s got to) get healthy, and if he’s not drafted, be ready to have a great year next year and re-open their eyes.”

Hounds athletic therapist and trainer, Chris Linder, is in regular contact with Thomas’s doctor in London.

“Right now we’re leaving it in Chris’s hands. At this point you’ve got to trust what their doctor is telling us,” Torrie said. “We do know the surgery went well. They didn’t think there was as much damage as initially anticipated.”

That also means the road to rehab may bit be as long as originally thought, Torrie said.

“At this point, other than contact with Chris, there’s not a lot we can do.”

But there is a lot Thomas can do, and he’s been at it for a while now.

About two weeks after the operation he no longer needed a sling for his shoulder. Since then he has been regularly riding a stationary bike his dad bought him and has begun to run to get into shape.

He has also been back on the ice with some friends who rent the ice in Melbourne.

His friends play pickup hockey, but he just skates around and lightly stickhandles.

Thomas said the shoulder is in good shape and he’s anxious to get back to hockey, however, understands that he must not rush things.

“It’s good. I have full range of motion back without any pain. It’s coming along really well. I’m back on the ice again skating, just trying to get back in shape. . . . Hopefully I can get back in the gym and do more upper body training soon. But they don’t want me to push it yet.”

He expects to dig in and begin training harder about the end of April or in early May, he said.

Thomas said he was “a bit down” after the injury sidelined him. The operation and his limited recovery has revitalized him somewhat. And he’d really like to return to the Hounds to try to help out the struggling team that is currently on a five-game losing streak. But he knows that’s not an option right now.

Torrie said it’s a slow process. However, the timelines look good for Thomas to suit up in the red and white come September.

“You just can’t push the envelope. The last thing you want is for him to start training in some manner and set the shoulder back.”