The situation isn’t as straightforward as Sunday’s exhibition match for the 34-year-old forward, who’s coming into Oilers Training Camp as a professional tryout who’s missed the last two full seasons of professional hockey with long COVID.
It’s a condition that’s characterized by horrible shortness of breath, which made his day-to-day dealings as a professional player almost untenable after last playing in a competitive contest 876 days ago on May 1, 2021 as a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
“I think I’ve been through a lot over the last two-and-a-half years and I’m going to be very conscious of my health and stuff like that, but it’s been great so far. I really can’t complain after a week,” he said. “I’m just taking it day by day trying to enjoy it and have some fun with it, too.
After building himself back to a position where he was comfortable attempting to play in the NHL again, Sutter is expected to get plenty of looks in the preseason on his PTO.
But Head Coach Jay Woodcroft is prepared to proceed cautiously and patiently with the centre.
“I think process-wise with him, we should expect him to play three of the first five exhibition games,” Woodcroft said. “I’m going to try and stay away from playing too many people back-to-back, so he won’t be playing tomorrow.”
“That’s kind of up to Woody to figure that out,” Sutter added. “I know we have eight pre-season games. I’m not sure what the schedule will be, but I’m just kind of taking a day at a time right now and focusing on tomorrow, then we’ll go from there.”