"Sami Salo suggested Sunday that he's close to skating and that the fun is about to start for the injury-plagued defenceman. If so, the work will soon start for the Vancouver Canucks braintrust to balance the eventual return of the blueliner — who has been on long-term injury relief — against restraints of the salary cap because they're right at the ceiling.

"Everything has gone real well and I'm hoping that it [skating] could be any day," said Salo, who suffered an Achilles rupture July 22 while playing floorball in his native Finland.

"I feel really good and I want to see where I'm at. I'm really confident that everything will feel good because I haven't felt any pain in a long time. From that point of view, I'm really hopeful.

"The trainers and doctors are just trying to be a little cautious that we don't force things, but I haven't had any setbacks. I can do pretty much anything in the gym. Now, the fun part starts. The worst part is over.""