FEATURE: Building back

EDMONTON, AB - Just when Mike Smith thought he was making progress, he would be forced to pull back.
For every good day he had on the ice, there'd be a difficult one not far behind.
This was the plight of the veteran goaltender, who's missed the last two-and-a-half months and 26 games of action for the Oilers with a nagging injury that represents one of the toughest challenges he's faced over the course of his 16-year NHL journey.
"It's honestly been one of the most difficult injuries of my career," Smith said, speaking to the media following practice on Tuesday at Clare Drake Arena.
"It's not like it's been life-threatening by any means, but it's been a nagging thing that's kept me from being able to do what I need to do. That's been the most frustrating part, because I've been close a few times, had setbacks, and not felt like myself."
Following the team's final practice before heading out on a five-game road trip that begins Wednesday in St. Louis, the Oilers netminder is showing his intent to put it all behind him by declaring his availability to return to the lineup.
"I'm available, so we'll see what coach has to say," Smith said. "I'll be available for tomorrow and I'll be on the road trip pushing forward here and not looking back."

Smith was locked in through the first two games of the season, posting two victories and registering a .953 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average. But beneath the surface, the veteran felt the nagging issue begin to rear its ugly head once again before it eventually culminated in his second-period exit from an October 19 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
"To be honest, it was something I've been dealing with for a little bit of time now," he said. "It just got to the point where I couldn't play the way I needed to play. By that third game, it was starting to affect the way I was able to move around.
"I had to make a call, and it wasn't like I couldn't play. It was just more that I couldn't play up to the capabilities that I needed to play. I wasn't giving myself the best chance to play either. I was trying to push through it, and it got to the point where it just wasn't allowing me to do that."
Despite doing his proper due diligence, the nature of the injury prolonged the recovery period and provided many moments of frustration along the way. Time off helped the recovery, but didn't seem to speed things up; the more he pushed it, the worse it seemed to get.
"It was a finicky thing and something that I haven't really dealt with," Smith said. "I've had injuries where you kind of know a timeline as far as when you're going to be back, and that was the hardest thing with this one.
"It didn't feel like there was an end in sight, so it was obviously frustrating."
Even when Smith's recovery trended well enough in the right direction back in November for him to join the team on a five-game road trip out east, the netminder returned home for further evaluation after suffering a setback before the first puck dropped.
"I was planning on maybe playing in Boston at that point," he recounted. "I was just kind of pushing forward, and something didn't feel right still. I knew something wasn't quite where it needed to be, and I didn't want to get back into a situation where I come back for a game or two and then I'm back out of the lineup."

After taking the necessary steps for his recovery and feeling good through a good string of practices over the past weeks, the only test left now is the real thing.
"I just need to get into a game now and see how it reacts, and I feel like I'm close enough to that point where I've done enough work in practice where I just need to get into a game and see how it goes," he said.
"I'm to the point now where it's not perfect either, but nothing's been perfect throughout the course of my career. It's just something else I have to deal with, and hopefully, I can come back into the lineup and play some good hockey."