VOORHEES, N.J. -- Sean Couturier was going to play hockey again, no matter what it took.
For 22 months, the Philadelphia Flyers center could only watch the game he loves as he dealt with the ups and downs of recovery and rehabilitation from back surgery to repair a herniated disk, which he had to repeat after eight months of continued pain, numbness and migraine headaches from leaking spinal fluid.
"There were times where it was tough, but it was never an option to quit," the 30-year-old said. "No matter how hard it was, I was going to keep grinding. I have seven more years on my deal. If it took three, four years, it would have taken three, four years. I was ready to do whatever I can try to get back. Now it's behind me. I'm glad."
He'll be even happier to get into the visiting dressing room at Nationwide Arena and put his skates on to play in the Flyers' season opener at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; BSOH, NBCSP).
It will be his first regular-season game in 663 days. But three weeks after starting training camp, after playing four preseason games, Couturier is ready.
"I'm definitely excited," he said. "It's been a long journey, a lot of ups and downs. It's fun to finally see the work pay off and feel good. I'll probably be able to tell you more once I play that first game how it felt, but definitely really excited to get back into normal life.
"That's all I know, is play hockey and be on a routine, a schedule, all year long. So, I missed that. And it's nice to be back."
Where he is now is a long way from where he was the last time he played, against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 18, 2021.
It wasn't one blow that led to nearly two years away from the game, but the cumulative effects of a physical style that led to a total of 460 points (180 goals, 280 assists) in 721 games, becoming one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL during his 11 seasons with the Flyers.
"The prior three, four weeks before it happened, I started feeling some tight back, stiffness," he said, squirming in his locker stall remembering the pain he felt. "It was hard to get up in the morning, hard to actually get ready for games. I always felt like kind of shifted in my [lower] back. I would warm up and do some rehab to kind of feel somewhat good for game time and then I'd probably get hit in the first period and I'd feel [terrible] the rest of the game.
"So, it was tough those last three, four weeks, but I was just trying to battle, help in any way I could. Prior years I had some back tightness and soreness, usually would last a couple days, maybe a week. But this was kind of lingering here for three or four weeks and then it just happened to be the last game I played, I must have got hit in the middle of the game or something. I just remember between periods I couldn't even sit in my stall, it was irritating, like nerve pain, I couldn't find a position. Finished the game and then that night couldn't go to sleep ... couldn't even turn in bed. My wife said I was groaning in the middle of the night just trying to turn in bed. At that point that's when I knew something was wrong."
The back pain was bad enough to force him out of the lineup. He also contracted COVID-19.
"I was two weeks in isolation, in pain," he said. "COVID didn't hit me hard, but I was stuck at home, couldn't get any doctor's appointments because I had COVID, so I had to wait 10 or 14 days to see a doctor."
An epidural gave him some comfort, but the pain returned once it wore off, and he had surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital on Feb. 11, 2022.
The expected three-month recovery ended the 2021-22 season for him, but more problems surfaced as he began to get ready for 2022-23.
"All summer I felt some discomfort in the glutes, nerve irritation," he said. "[Doctors] thought it was just post-surgery inflammation, that it would go away. It was never enough to really stop me from working out or skating, I was able to kind of do all that stuff. But I had to warm up extra. I would feel it a little bit when I was skating.
"When I started pushing pretty hard right before (training) camp, skating every day, I think I re-herniated it."
This time, Couturier traveled to the Carrell Clinic in Dallas, where Dr. Andrew Dossett asked him something unexpected.
"Right before the surgery he kind of just was like, 'Hey, have you ever had headaches and stuff?'" Couturier said. "And I was like, 'Yeah, at times working out.'"
The headaches were a symptom of a spinal fluid leak dating to his first surgery. The build-up of fluid had created a cyst that was causing the numbness and irritation in his back and glutes. So, when Dossett operated on Couturier on Oct. 27, 2022, not only did he have to repair the herniated disk, he also had to remove the cyst and plug the leak in Couturier's spinal cord.
Recovery again had its ups and downs, just without the persistent headaches. Couturier was cleared to play in March, five months after surgery, but the Flyers opted to keep him out.
Couturier objected to the decision, saying he needed to play to remember what game speed felt like, and to give him an idea of what he had to work on during the offseason. But general manager Daniel Briere said it was his decision to take Couturier's skates away from him.
At the time, Briere had been interim GM for only a few weeks, and said it's still the hardest thing he's had to do at the position because of the personal relationship he has with Couturier. They were teammates in Philadelphia, and Couturier spent his rookie season in 2011-12 living at Briere's home.
"That was probably the toughest decision I've faced, telling someone that I respect and really love, that as a friend to tell him that the right thing to do for himself and for the Flyers was to not dress," Briere said. "That was definitely not an easy situation. But it was bigger than myself. It wasn't about me. I had to try to [make] the best decision for what I believe for him and the Flyers."
The extra time away gave Couturier more time to build strength in his back and core, and also to build the chip on his shoulder to remind everyone who he was, and who he can still be -- a two-time 30-goal scorer, winner of the Selke Trophy in 2020 as the best defensive forward in the NHL, a player who takes every important face-off and is first over the boards for every power play and penalty kill.
"I want to be the same player I was, if not better," he said. "I don't want to be just the guy coming back and surviving my contract or whatever. I want to be the player that I used to be. It's definitely the biggest motivation for me, to get back to that level."
His teammates already can see flashes of it.
"As far as the small details that no one else sees from the stands, you notice it immediately and that's the impact he has on our team," forward Travis Konecny said. "He looks good. He's still making awesome plays, like he always was.
"You're going to notice him obviously on the score sheet, but the games that he's not on the score sheet, he's still probably the most effective player on our team. That's what makes him the best and those are the things that we notice."
Couturier has been able to make some of those plays during camp, but not as many as he'd like. But he knows he'll have to be patient. Twenty-two months of rust isn't shaken off in three weeks, but the determination to get back and be better than he was is paramount.
"I've got to be patient with myself," he said. "Already there's times in camp where I get a little frustrated, not executing plays or not finishing as well as I should. But that'll come. I think I've got to be patient and keep a positive mindset."
