Vlasic Details Injury, Thinks He’ll Be Back Soon

Marc-Edouard Vlasic believes he’ll return from his upper back injury soon.

“I’d say within two weeks I’m back, for sure,” the veteran San Jose Sharks defenseman said.

The 37-year-old, entering his 19th NHL season, feels that his injury is a product of his lengthy and durable NHL career. His 1,296 games played in teal is second in San Jose Sharks history, and he’s appeared in a remarkable 92 percent of all possible regular season games.

“I’m a guy that doesn’t really spend much time in the trainer’s room, so maybe I should have,” he quipped.

Vlasic felt the injury flare up quickly after returning to San Jose.

“The plane ride here didn’t help,” he said. “Skating here, doing the [cardio] test. Waking up the next day, I could feel it. Got an MRI and realized it was pretty bad.”

While Vlasic did not detail the specific injury, he did say that it is an “upper back” ailment.

“There’s no surgery required,” he explained. “As of right now, I can skate fine, shoot. It’s just [about] getting back to the cardio, handling the pain, coming back, practicing with the guys, and then playing games and seeing how it is after back to backs. After the next day, playing a game.”

Vlasic has been skating with a contingent of injured skaters like Shakir Mukhamadullin, Thomas Bordeleau, and the San Jose Barracuda’s Artem Guryev, among others. He’s also working towards getting his cardio back to where it needs to play NHL games.

“Then when I start practicing, it’ll be to get the timing with my teammates,” he said. “Once I start skating with the guys, then I’ll be within a couple days of being able to play.”

The San Jose Sharks’ defensive group could get crowded quickly, with Vlasic and Mukhamadullin joining the top-six who played on opening night. Still, the veteran defenseman is itching to return to the team.

“I want to be out there,” Vlasic said. “I’m excited about this group. It’s unfortunate that I missed all that time.”