Hartman Taking Contact, Remains On Track to Return from Injury

Ryan Hartman is right on track.
After undergoing offseason shoulder surgery, the Nashville winger began to participate in contact drills this week at Predators Training Camp with the goal of being ready to play on Opening Night on Oct. 4 in New York.
Following Tuesday's practice, the 2018 Trade Deadline acquisition says his shoulder is continuing to heal and the progress is encouraging.

"I haven't really had any contact this summer and I started feeling it out and I feel good," Hartman said. "The shoulder feels great. Physically, I feel good and I'm ready to go. We'll see where things go from here - if I play in the scrimmage or if I play some games here - but I'm excited to feel 100 percent."
Hartman did indeed participate in a scrimmage on Wednesday during Training Camp, the first game action he's seen with the team since last May. Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette elected to go with the change in format in favor of a traditional practice on Wednesday, providing another opponent for management to get a look at their players in different situations.

One of those players who hopes to be trusted in a wealth of scenarios this season is Hartman, who inked a one-year, $875,000 deal back in July.
Both sides agreed to look at it as a "prove it" deal
, with Hartman believing he has plenty to give in his first full season with the Preds.
Being with the group from the start has also been a positive for Hartman who was previously tasked with jumping into a different locker room in the middle of a postseason push. Not that Hartman didn't feel welcome from the start - the culture and attitude in the Nashville room was the first thing he mentioned after he arrived last season - but being with the team from Day One of camp makes a noticeable difference.
"It's a young core and a young group, a fun group to be around," Hartman said. "I'm excited to get going. It's a big year for me personally, but for the team, I look around the room…and we all know what the goal is and we're excited to go out there and try to achieve it."
Hartman will be doing so completely healthy, another welcome change compared to his first few months with the Predators. After months of rehabilitation, he's firing pucks and dishing hits once more, this time with a shoulder that has never felt better.
"After you have the surgery, you feel like you're never going to be able to use that limb again," Hartman said. "You're in so much pain and it's just like, 'How am I going to get that thing back to where it was before?' But the doctors here did a really good job. It feels better than it did before the surgery, so I'm ready to go."