“Returning to play coming off a major back surgery, there’s a lot that goes into that,” Blashill said. “Part of it is just getting your body ready. He hasn’t skated this hard in a lot of months, way more than other people.

“He has to be ready for Game 1 against Tampa and there are a lot of different ways you can be ready. Some of it is playing in the exhibition season, but we’ll see how it progresses.”

Around the League

Participating countries were asked to declare three players last month, and Armstrong said the choices for Hockey Canada were straightforward.