Mahura Eager To Return
By Greg Meachem
He’s not quite there yet, but Josh Mahura will return to the Red Deer Rebels lineup sooner than later.
The second-year defenceman participated in his first full practices with the club this week since undergoing extensive knee surgery in October, but could be at least another week away from returning to active duty.
“I feel good. I’ve been skating for a few weeks and have been practising since Tuesday,” the 17-year-old said Friday. “It’s kind of up to the big boss (Rebels GM/head coach Brent Sutter) right now as to when I get in there.
“I’m leaving it in his hands now and when my name gets called I’ll be ready to go.”
In a perfect world, the smooth-skating, heads-up rearguard would have appeared in at least one game prior to the playoffs, which start late next week. However, Sutter insisted that Mahura won’t play in Saturday’s final regular-season outing versus the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings.
“As of right now, he’s definitely not playing tomorrow night,” Sutter said Friday. “He has to get through a few more practices before we even think about it.”
Is Game 1 of the Rebels’ Eastern Conference quarter-final — slated to open next Friday at the Centrium — a realistic target for Mahura’s return?
“Again, we have to monitor his practices and see how he’s dealing with and reacting to things,” said Sutter. “He’s looked good in practice, but we have to watch for any symptoms he might have as far as swelling or anything like that.
“We have to monitor it all for the next week and see how it goes.”
Mahura certainly feels like he’s close and is confident he’ll be ready to roll in one week’s time.
“I think that’s where I want to be,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s not my decision.”
The Rebels’ second-round pick — 36th overall — in the 2013 WHL bantam draft suffered a knee injury during the club’s regular-season opener in September. He didn’t realize anything was out of the ordinary until appearing in a second contest a day later.
After noticing at least modest pain in the second game — a 3-2 overtime win at Edmonton where he assisted on the winning goal — the injury was soon diagnosed and he underwent surgery in mid October.
And now, five months after having his knee repaired, Mahura is on the verge of contributing to any success the Rebels will experience from here on in.
“It’s been awhile,” he under-stated, “and now that it’s kind of getting down to it, I’m getting a lot more excited.
“Right now I’m still out of the lineup, but I’m getting better every day and working towards getting in there.”
The St. Albert native, who last season — as a WHL rookie — notched two goals and collected seven assists in a combination of 51 regular-season and five playoff games, won’t be short of wind when he does make his long-awaited return.
“I almost feel better than I did before,” he said. “I’ve been working pretty hard in the gym. Obviously an injury is never good, but I feel I’ve made the most out of my time off.”
