from George Richards of On Frozen Pond,

Kris Versteeg was on the ice with the rest of the veteran throng in Coral Springs on Thursday as he works his way back from having major surgery on his right knee last year.

Versteeg told us last spring that he didn't expect to be ready until November; since he's been skating for the past month, it appears the timeline has been moved up a notch.

"It's a long process but my goal is to be ready for the start of the season,'' Versteeg said.

"I guess we'll see how training camp goes. I don't want to go into a regular season game without knowing what training camp is like. I think I'll be there for most of it. That's my goal.''

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