[mile]

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc...-to-six-months

With that in mind, Honzek must have wrestled with his options before deciding it would be detrimental to postpone the surgery and try to play through the pain.

“I think he thought about us, as well, and not just about him,” Huska said. “Which is something I’m pretty proud of him for.”

“I think he’s in a different space now because of the maturity that I’ve seen change over the course of the year where I think this is just going to catapult him to another level, because he’s going to be bigger and stronger again when he comes back. His speed is not going to change.

“And I really do feel now that he 100 per cent believes he’s an NHL player. He knows the role that he is going to be playing. He knows how he needs to play every night. So I think he’s going to come back and be just fine, once of course he gets the rust off.”

“The size and speed that he has is what every team wants,” Huska said. “Now, it’s always about coming back and proving your worth. There’s no question about that. We expect him to push like he did this year for us, when he got into our lineup.

“But I think he has the tools and I think his maturity now has changed to the point where I do believe he’s an NHL player.”