Michal Kempny participates in first full team practice since March injury

September 9, 2019 7:33 pm

Michal Kempny continues to make strides ahead of the start of Capitals’ training camp. After skating privately before the start of the team’s informal practices, Kempny joined the full team out on the ice on Monday morning for the first time.

Kempny wore a bright green jersey, likely meaning no-contact, and skated with the team after a quick warm-up with Carl Hagelin.

According to NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Kempny did all the drills but left before the team’s informal scrimmage – the same scrimmage where Alex Ovechkin got hurt and had to briefly leave the ice. The Czech defenseman has been working with strength & conditioning coach Mark Nemish over the last two weeks.

Kempny stayed on through all the drills, but left before informal scrimmage. https://t.co/qB2fZDr4UY

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 9, 2019

Kempny expressed concerns that he may not be a full participant by the start of Capitals training camp on September 12, but skating with the team is the next step in his summer-long rehab.

“If I’m going to make training camp, it would be great,” Kempny said to NHL.com recently. “If not, my goal and my focus is to be ready for the season. First game, be healthy, be 100 percent. I don’t want to have some problems with it, so I’ve got to take it step by step, listen to our doctors and our treatment guys. But I’m working hard every day. A lot of work is behind me, a lot of work is ahead of me.”

Kempny added that, “After every workout, it’s a little sore, tight. I can still feel it, but it’s something that’s normal after the injury. So it’s nothing that is bad. It just takes some time.”

The Capitals blueliner suffered a torn left hamstring during a March 20 game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “I just felt pop in my leg,” Kempny said of the moment when the injury occurred. “I felt really big pain.”

After having surgery April 2, Kempny was said to have a timeline of four to six months to recover and has been rehabbing the injury ever since. The end of that six-month prognosis would be the Capitals’ first regular-season game on October 2.