BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Sabres defenseman Teppo Numminen has been
cleared to rejoin the team six months after having open heart
surgery.
Numminen will practice with the Sabres on Thursday after
completing a two-day evaluation, the team announced during the
first intermission of their game against Tampa Bay on Wednesday
night.
For Numminen, it will be his first time back since he practiced
with the team in early January. However, he was informed by team
doctors at that time that he wouldn't be cleared to play until
mid-March, at the earliest, to allow his sternum additional time to
heal.
Numminen had surgery in September to repair a faulty valve,
which was discovered during a routine checkup ahead of his 19th NHL
season and third with Buffalo.
His return can't come at a better time for an injury-depleted
Sabres team that has three regular defenseman - Jaroslav Spacek
(ribs), Dmitri Kalinin (right shoulder) and Nathan Paetsch
(concussion) - out of the lineup.
Numminen re-signed with the Sabres to a one-year, $2.6 million
contract in July. He's spent the season on the team's suspended
list, so his contract doesn't count against the salary cap.
Numminen has had a heart murmur since childhood. He was
diagnosed with a dilated aorta in March 2004, when he was playing
for the Dallas Stars, and missed five games before he was cleared
to play.
The condition also forced him to miss one game and part of
another during a playoff series against Philadelphia in 2006.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)