Many people assumed that Martin Hanzal’s career was over. Recovering from spinal surgery is no cakewalk to begin with, so making a return to a hard-hitting professional sport like hockey makes it even more difficult.
But when the Dallas Stars take on the San Jose Sharks tonight, Hanzal will be in the lineup. It will be his first NHL game since this past February, and the forward is obviously glad to be back:
“It was a long process, very long,” [Hanzal] said. “I wouldn’t want to do it again because when you don’t play hockey for ten months, it is boring.