Red Wings' Miller, on hit and eating with a broken jaw

Helene St. James | Detroit Free Press

Drew Miller figures Christmas dinner will have enough options for him to get in a good meal.

The Detroit Red Wings forward does have to be careful, though, as he was today, when he made it onto the ice for a brief skate at Joe Louis Arena. He is still dealing with the effects of a crushing hit Dec. 3, when the Arizona Coyotes' Klas Dahlbeck drove his right shoulder into Miller's head. A game official grabbed Miller to keep him upright until team personnel could help him.

"I saw the replay," Miller said. "It was a big hit, but I put most of it on myself. I put myself in a tough position -- I thought he would go down the wall and try to hit me, and I came back the other way, and he was still there. It's the game of hockey."

Miller wasn't well enough to be around the arena for a good week after the incident.

"It was a weird feeling," he said. "To come back and be around for games and supporting the guys here in the locker room, it was nice to be here for that."

Today was Miller's second time on the ice. The former Michigan State star does not have a return date circled but is hopeful that the recovery is at the shorter end of the 4-to-6-week prognosis. He said he thinks he will go on the team's post-Christmas trip but isn't certain.

"It's hard to say," he said. "You have to just kind of go day-by-day and see how the jaw progresses. And then I've got to get my conditioning back."

Miller, who had played in 190 consecutive games, has lost a few pounds, as his eating habits have been limited. He was to have the last bit of metal removed from his mouth today, remnants of the brackets that were put on when he had surgery Dec. 5.

"There's no hard crunching on things," Miller said. "I can't be chewing on a steak and putting that pressure on the jaw. I have to let is settle down and give it the time it needs to heal. I can eat chicken; I just have to cut it up in smaller bites. Can't crunch down. Just have to chew it up a little bit and swallow."

It's a rotten time of year to have one's eating restricted, but Miller said, "I'll work around it. Christmas has enough food options, so I can find enough to stuff myself."

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.