Williams knows he isn’t game ready yet
RALEIGH, N.C.— Justin Williams is back with the Carolina Hurricanes. The question now is how long it will take him to be ready for game action.
The 38-year-old former captain said Wednesday he isn’t sure exactly when he’ll be ready to play, though he has been skating and working out in hopes of easing the transition back to the ice after he stepped away from the sport last fall.
“Roddy and I, we’ll talk through it,” Williams said of head coach Rod Brind’Amour.
Williams appeared at a news conference Wednesday with team owner Tom Dundon along with president and general manager Don Waddell, saying he didn’t want to be a distraction as he rejoins the teams and continues work to get ready.
“I’m no dummy. I know that to be elite and play against the world’s best, you can’t just come off the couch after not playing for six months.”
The team announced Tuesday night that it had signed the three-time Stanley Cup champion to a one-year contract for the remainder of the season, with Williams earning a base salary of $700,000 along with the potential to earn another $1.3 million on bonuses.
One of Williams’ Cup wins came with the Hurricanes in 2006, and Williams was the captain last year as the team reached the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and pushed all the way to the Eastern Conference final.
Williams was noncommittal about his future as an unrestricted free agent after the Hurricanes were eliminated in May. He watched the team as a fan, occasionally offering text messages to his former and eventual teammates. There was a part of him that mulled whether to turn his time away into retirement, mentioning he had time to help his children with homework or coach his son’s hockey team.
“I missed hockey,” Williams said, “but I certainly wasn’t bored.”