"Pavol Demitra called Monday a good day and there haven't been many of those over the last seven months for the Vancouver Canuck winger.

Demitra skated with his teammates for the first time in practice Monday and was snapping wrist shots with authority.

He said his left shoulder, which was injured in the second round of last spring's playoffs on a hit by Chicago defenceman Brian Campbell, is feeling much better.

"I'm just happy my shooting is almost back to normal," he said. "I am not shooting slap shots yet, but the wrist shot is feeling good."

Demitra still is not taking contact and estimated that he might be ready to play his first game of the season in about two weeks.

"I think I am more than a week away," he said. "I think it is still a couple of more weeks. The shoulder still has to get stronger … [but] today was a good day for me to finally skate with the guys. We'll see how the shoulder feels tomorrow."

Demitra was named last week to the Slovakian Olympic team and acknowledged that he very much wants to play one last time for his country.

"Obviously for me and my age group that I was growing up with that's going to be the last big tournament for us and we brought all the guys, even [Zigmund] Palffy is coming back to play for us. I think this is going to be a great tournament for Slovakia.""