Semyon Varlamov Opens Up About Injury and Recovery

Semyon Varlamov’s road back to being healthy was longer than he expected, but ultimately worth the wait.

The 38-year-old netminder initially suffered a knee injury on Nov. 29, 2024, underwent double partial knee replacements and ultimately spent the better part of 22 months rehabbing. On Thursday, he was a regular participant in an NHL Training Camp, feeling healthy for the first time in a long time.

“It’s a long process I had to go through physically and mentally,” Varlamov said. “It was a lot of up and downs, a lot of setbacks. I expected that I would be back sooner, but it's okay… I came back and I'm finally feeling good, and I'm feeling 100% on the first day of Training camp, so I'm very excited and looking forward to play again.”

The hardest part for Varlamov, a veteran of 621 games, was the unknown timeline for his recovery. Varlamov said his procedures were relatively novel for a pro hockey player, which meant forgoing the usual timelines and the mental comfort that comes with an end date.

“I was just telling myself just take it one day at the time, and then wake up next morning and do it again,” Varlamov said. “We didn't really know how long it will take to finish the rehab and feel 100% because the type of surgeries I've done. People are doing it, but not professional hockey players to try to come back [to play]. That was kind of like a crazy idea, a very risky idea, but I took a risk and then had to do a lot of rehab, and then just had to be very, very patient.”

Varlamov credited Dr. Martin Roche and his surgical team for a successful procedure. Varlamov also credited the team with supporting him through his lengthy recovery.

“It's important not to be alone, not separate yourself from everybody else,” Varlamov said. “It's important to be around the team, stay in the locker room, communicate with your teammates, coaching staff. I wasn't playing the games, but I was here every day doing stuff, so I always felt welcome, and I always felt that I was part of the team.”

Varlamov said his respect and love for the game pushed him to keep going instead of hanging up the skates.

“I wasn’t ready to retire,” Varlamov said. “Of course, like there were definitely some days it was in my mind when things were not going well… We had a lot of setbacks and push backs, so I was thinking maybe this is it. I won't be able to come back. But you wake up next morning and then just tell yourself you're just not ready to retire and I'm not there yet, I guess. I still have a lot of respect and love for the game, and I want to be around this team.”

While Varlamov hasn’t played an NHL game since Nov. 29, 2024, he did play a pair of AHL games with Bridgeport in April, going 2-0-0 and stopping 46-of-49 shots in the process. It was an important checkpoint for him to hit in his recovery, both to prove to himself that he could continue his comeback and show the organization his progress.

“I wanted to play and test myself, and then just see how my knees are going to react during the real game, not just practices,” Varlamov said.

Varlamov said he felt rusty in his first game, but his body responded well. He felt more like himself after the second game.

“I felt like myself again,” Varlamov said. “Just confident, and [I] was able to play the way I used to play, just feeling good like all three periods. So it was very important to play. I feel like if I didn't play those two games, there's no chance the team would give me a chance to be part of this Training Camp.”

The prospect of playing games allowed Varlamov to push himself in practice, ramping up in March from skating three days a week to four or five.

“My body, my knees responded better,” Varlamov said. “The more I skated, the better I feel. And by, I would say, the middle of March, I kind of realized I would have a chance maybe to play.”

Varlamov said he doesn’t have any expectations for playing time as he heads into Training Camp and just wants to stay healthy and help the team win hockey games if called upon. The usually-reserved Russian did let on that an NHL return would be an emotional one.

“We're all human beings, so of course it's going to be emotional,” Varlamov said. “I hope it will happen. I'm still working on things like getting back to play the first game. But I don't want to jump ahead of the things. I'm just taking it one day at the time. I'm just focusing on what's the best thing I can do to be a better teammate and then just the best version of myself today.”