"It hasn't been easy for Sami Salo to make it this far. Especially Thursday.

"We were supposed to fly through Chicago from Phoenix to get there, but that flight got cancelled," Vancouver Canucks assistant general manager Lorne Henning said of his travels to the minors Thursday with Salo. "We finally had to fly into Newark and drive from there."

They ended up in Wilkes-Barre, Penn., where on Friday Salo will play his first hockey game since a ruptured Achilles tendon last July endangered his career.

The 36-year-old defenceman was assigned Thursday to the Manitoba Moose for a three-game conditioning stint in the American Hockey League. If all goes well, Salo should return to Vancouver next week and could play soon for the Canucks.

Given his age and the severity of his injury, this was the most challenging of Salo's many injury rehabs in his National Hockey League career.

"He has been smiling all day," Henning said. "He met with [Moose coach] Claude Noel and is anxious to get going."