Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Bryan Bickell makes his return to hockey with the Carolina Hurricanes
When Bryan Bickell came to the Carolina Hurricanes in the offseason many wrote him off as a necessary evil to obtain Teuvo Teravainen from the Chicago Blackhawks. Bickell spent most of the last season in the AHL trying to regain his form. The same form that saw him earn the four-year $16 million contract the Blackhawks considered dead cap space. Bickell started the season on the fourth line but became a key contributor on special teams.
Despite Bickell’s solid play, he found himself a healthy scratch over and over. Bickell’s last game was against the Philadelphia Flyers on October 30th. With as much as Head Coach Bill Peters
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liked to mix and match his lineups, it was unusual to see any forward sit in the press box for so long. Even more so given the Hurricanes lackluster record up until that point.
Everything fell into place though on November 12th when Bryan Bickell and the Carolina Hurricanes announced the winger was suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. While many people wrote that this most likely would be the end of Bickell’s hockey career, Bickell felt otherwise. ESPN quoted Bickell saying that “my mindset is to get back on the ice, and I think I can do that.”
Return to the Ice
Bickell was true to his word as last week reports surfaced that Bryan Bickell prepared to take the ice again. Only this time it would be for the Charlotte Checkers instead of the Carolina Hurricanes. Bryan Bickell played against the Cleveland Monsters last Saturday and tallied a primary assist on the Checker’s fifth goal. Bickell totaled ten minutes of ice time in his first game back.
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Does this mean Bickell will be returning to the Carolina Hurricanes lineup anytime soon? No, most likely not. He’ll definitely need to finish his conditioning stint first before even thinking about a return to the NHL. And then after that, the question is can he actually contribute to the team. I’m not sure, but with the Hurricanes season almost finished I don’t see any harm in letting Bickell play a few more games. They could very well be his last games in the NHL.
It’s not like the Hurricanes are still competing for a playoff spot so what’s the harm. Let the man suit up in what are meaningless games for the franchise and turn it into a great story from both a locker room and PR standpoint. It’s not the first time Carolina has done something like this, and hope it won’t be the last.