VANCOUVER (Reuters) - Vancouver Canucks center Manny Malhotra was cleared on Saturday to play in the Stanley Cup finals two months after suffering a serious eye injury.
Malhotra, who had been expected to miss the rest of the season after having eye surgery in March, was given permission on Friday to join his team mates in some light contact at practice.
"It's obviously a very exciting prospect for me at this point," Malhotra told reporters after Canucks coach Alain Vigneault gave him the green light earlier on Saturday.
"Coming from where I was two months ago and making the statement that the season was over to potentially having a chance to play in the NHL Stanley Cup Final is obviously incredibly exciting for me."
Vigneault did not say whether Malhotra would be in Vancouver's lineup on Wednesday when the Canucks host the Boston Bruins for Game One in the best-of-seven series.
Malhotra, 31, has not competed in the league since March 16 when a puck deflected off an opponent's stick and into his eye during a game against Colorado.
At that time, the Canucks said Malhotra, who had 30 points while playing on the team's shutdown third line, would not return for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.
(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Alastair Himmer)
