'That's the goal': Ben Bishop sets his sights on returning this season

FRISCO, Texas -- Ben Bishop plans on playing at some point this season for the Dallas Stars.
"Yeah, absolutely," Bishop said after going through the first day of practice at training camp Thursday.
"That's the goal," Bishop said when asked about returning to play. "It's a process and I don't want to look too far ahead, but that's the plan. That's the goal."

Bishop last played Aug. 31, 2020 against the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs and has been in and out for the past 18 months because of knee pain. He's had two surgeries, including one that had him on crutches for six weeks. He's been skating and training over the summer, but this was his first real practice with teammates in more than a year.
"Driving to the rink today, I was like a little kid, had little butterflies just thinking about it," Bishop said. "Going two hours today is a good practice. I haven't practiced like that by myself like that since before COVID. Since then, we've always had three goalies. It was a good first day, hopefully keep building and trust and everything holds up."
Bishop definitely has the backing of head coach Rick Bowness. The two were part of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization for several seasons, and Bowness has extreme trust in the veteran. That said, the organization has four goalies right now and three under contract at the NHL level. For Bishop to play, the Stars will have to adjust their roster to open salary cap space, and likely have to trade Braden Holtby or Anton Khudobin to make things work. That means they need to be very sure that Bishop will be ready to play for the rest of the year.
"We're prepared for all scenarios, so we'll see where it goes," said Stars GM Jim Nill, who signed Holtby to a one-year deal in the offseason. "There's one plan where, let's hope (Bishop) can play. That's the best-case scenario, and we'll deal with whatever happens there. And then the other case scenario is if he can't play, we're in a situation to handle that also."
Bishop sure sounded like a goalie who wants to play on Thursday. He's worked hard and said he feels good.
"I don't feel rusty," Bishop said. "It's more just getting that strength and trust back in that knee. It's been a long time. You can take shots all you want, but as far as battling through screens and whatnot and getting that trust back in the leg, it's more the hurdle you have to get over. As far as hand-eye and feeling it, I feel like I haven't missed a beat."
Still, the knee didn't respond well in the Colorado game in 2020 and that led to the second surgery. Then, last year, Bishop kept trying to come back and never was able to play in a game.
"As we went through last year, they didn't know how long it was going to take to get better," Bishop said. "And when we looked at the schedule, trying to come back for the last week of the season didn't really make sense. Not being able to really go down to Austin and play and kind of coming back for three games, it made more sense to keep resting it and trying to make it stronger for the entire summer.
"And it's worked, it feels better," he added. "Like I said, I just need to be able to test it now. This camp is obviously a good time and we have to test it and see where it goes."
Still, Bishop has not been medically cleared to play even though he's practicing. Could he play in a preseason game? He wants to. Could that affect the Stars' ability to place him on IR at the beginning of the season so that he can continue to rehab while Khudobin and Holtby play in the NHL? That's a tricky one. The Stars' salary cap works a lot better with Bishop on IR, but if he's ready to play then they have to adjust.
"We're encouraged, but still, he's got a long way to go yet," Nill said. "It's one thing that you're skating in the summer, but now you're going into game decisions. We'll see how things hold up. He doesn't even know. That's the tough part, for me to sit here and say where's he at? Ben's the one that knows that. And right now, he doesn't even know, that's why we're in this process. It's been a year-and-a-half now."
And that's the frustrating part of all of this. Bishop had his meniscus repaired in surgery, but said there are other elements that come into play with his recovery.
"I think every day, if it feels good, I think that's where the confidence is going to come from," Bishop said.
But, he added, that there is always a level of uncertainty until he gets to really test himself.
"As far as the knee itself, I think it's about as good as it's going to get," Bishop said of the surgical repair. "There's not really anything else we can do after this, so it's kind of, you know, all or nothing right now."
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This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika, and listen to his podcast.