COMMERCE CITY — Wearing a stocking cap and with his arms folded to ward off the cold Tuesday, Conor Casey was an on-field spectator at the snowy second morning of the Rapids’ training camp.

The 30-year-old forward and the franchise’s highest-paid player is coming off a torn Achilles tendon and subsequent surgery. He is at least a few weeks away from being able to join practices under new coach Oscar Pareja.

But the early prognosis was Casey wouldn’t be able to play for eight months after the July 20 surgery, so he seems to be on track — or ahead of schedule. The Rapids open the regular season March 10, and a return exactly eight months after surgery would mean missing only the first two games.

“I’m about six months out from surgery, and I’m jogging, jump-roping, hopping,” Casey said after practice ended on the field adjacent to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. “So the Achilles is good, and it’s just really building up calf strength now. … I’m going to have to see how I progress. I’m shooting to try to be able to play sometime in March. I don’t know exactly when that will be, and we’ll just have to wait and see how that plays out.”

Casey had six goals in 14 games in 2011, but the MLS season ended for him against Seattle on the road July 16.

“I took a step and it popped,” Casey recalled. “It was kind of a freak thing. It wasn’t that I was in an awkward position or anything like that, so it was pretty strange.”

Casey, who underwent knee surgery earlier in his career, is familiar with the rehab process. A graduate of Denver South High School and a product of the Colorado Rush club program, he played two years two years at the University of Portland and several years in Germany before coming to MLS in 2007. He played only two games for Toronto in 2007 before the Rapids acquired him. He has 48 goals in 101 games for his hometown team.

The U.S. national team veteran was on crutches until late October before throwing them aside and starting to do more physical work.

“I’d say it’s been that last month that I’ve started making big strides and do more and more,” he said. “It’s exciting now that I can sweat and get a good workout and tire myself out.”

When he returns, he again will be counted on to be the Rapids’ top offensive threat — this time for Pareja, who succeeds the fired Gary Smith — and the franchise’s stop drawing card.

“Conor knows that this team needs him,” Pareja said. “It’s going to be up to him to do whatever he can control, to be back on the training ground and in the games. He knows how important he is, but I want him to really want it. He can do it again, and he can be what Conor was in 2010 again. I hear from the doctors that he’s doing much better than the plan was, which is great news for me.

“Conor has been around. Conor has won an MLS Cup. Conor is the face of this organization, as is Pablo (Mastroeni) and a couple more. Conor has been at the highest level. When you have an (injury) like that, the first thing a coach wonders is, ‘Does he still want it enough?’ For me, it’s no 90 percent. It has to be 100 percent or more. The answer with him is ‘Yes,’ and I sense that. I will do whatever is possible because I need him.”

Pareja’s hiring also followed a front-office overhaul, and Casey noticed the offseason turmoil.

“They’ve opted for change, and they’ve really gone for it,” Casey said. “There’s a lot of positive things that are happening right now, and I think it’s an exciting time to be here, for everybody.”

Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com

