Kyle Palmieri calls it a “weird feeling,” then settles on “an achy soreness” to describe the state of his left knee now, 10 months after a torn ACL and two regular-season games into his return. He knows that description probably isn’t quite right, but he expects others who have been through the same injury will know what he’s talking about.
That’s what hockey looks like after such an injury. Everyone frames the return as the end of an ordeal, but it’s really the start of a different process. Anders Lee was the last Islander to tear his ACL, and talked frequently about feeling like it was months into his return before he felt fully confident, fully like himself.
From watching Palmieri — in camp, in the preseason, at the start of the regular season — it’s hard to notice from on high that anything is all that different. But physically and mentally, how could it not be?
“Not to say that you accept what the new reality might feel like, cause I know it’s still healing,” Palmieri told The Post before Saturday’s home opener against New Jersey. “But I think where I kind of find the confidence to push myself back towards getting back to my game really just comes from the process that I went through. I really don’t feel like I was trying to skip through things or accelerate things anymore. I just gave, every day, my best effort. I think I put everything I could into the rehab. Now I know it’s still part of the process of healing, but I think I’m really confident in the fact that I put myself — or at least tried to put myself — into the best position possible.”
