"I've been working out and haven't been limited in doing anything."

"The hip area, I'd say, is 100 percent cleared and now it's a matter of being back on the ice and getting used to shooting and stuff again.

"Everything," reports Sean Monahan, "is going just as planned.

Post-season, when news broke of the full extent of the injuries Johnny Gaudreau's partner in crime and fulcrum of the Flames' top line had been dealing with, it seemed mind-boggling.

Four surgeries: Wrist, groin, and two for hernias.

Despite playing in acute discomfort while dealing with ongoing strength and flexibility issues and being shut down altogether on March 23 to save him any further extraneous wear and tear, the 23-year-old pivot nevertheless managed to equal a career high for goals (31) and eclipse his previous-best point total (64).

"The sports hernias, you've got to strengthen the core and the muscles,'' explains Monahan. "It's kind of a daily routine.

"But the wrist … it's just more annoying than anything. In a cast for six weeks, you get it off and your arm feels a little weird for a while.

"Getting that motion back in your hand, because it's been stabilized for a long time - that one you've gotta work through.

"My wrist had been bothering for me for a long time. Probably the last 30, 40 games of the season I literally could barely hold my stick.

"Which is tough being a centreman when you've got to take faceoffs.

"When I got rid of the sling, after a week, I was heading up to New York to see the specialist. Then I was wondering: Do I get a smaller cast and be able to move my elbow again, am I going to stay in (the sling) or will I be completely out of it?

"When I saw the surgeon and specialist they were really happy with how things were progressing so they gave me the go-ahead to take everything off the wrist, the arm, and get back into some small movements.

"Now I'm doing everything."

Video: Monahan's best plays from 2017-18

So he's back in a routine, working out with Flames' captain Mark Giordano back east in Toronto every morning, a Pilates class three times a week and skating as much as possible.

Training camp this fall, of course, will feature a trip to China, where the Flames will face Boston twice - in Beijing and Shenzhen - in the second instalment of the O.R.G. China NHL Games series.

"It's a trip you'll never forget, which is pretty cool," says Monahan. "But there are bound to be a couple new faces by then, so to be over there, get to know people and play a few games will be important, too.

"Any time you can get the group together is good. Teams that go on and win, you look and the core of those groups - with the obvious exception of Vegas - and they've been teammates a long time.

"Just to see what Washington's doing right now. You can see the level of excitement every time they score. Ovechkin's going crazy. Backstrom, too.

"Those guys have been together six, seven, eight years, some of them longer, and that's huge, the feeling you build up."

The first order of business for No. 23, though, is indisputably feeling completely healed, reaching the peak of his considerable powers, by the time September rolls around.

"Most of last year,'' confesses the soft-spoken Monahan, never one to gripe or amp up the melodrama, "was a real grind.

"I'm just happy I have some strength back in my wrist, my hand, and my fingers are moving again properly.

"I missed the last six, seven games of the season and you just want to play hockey. You miss it when it's taken away from you.

"You definitely appreciate being healthy more after being hurt and it gives you extra motivation to be as ready as possible.

"The summers are tough. In some ways, they're harder than the season. But it's the work you've got to put in to make the season, training camp, feel easier on your body.

"With the injuries, this is a huge summer for me. And I'm surrounded by the right people to make it happen."