After missing roughly a month and a half due to a detached retina that he had surgery for, New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo will be back in the lineup on Tuesday, per the team’s Twitter feed.
“It was really scary,” Okposo told Newsday as he recalled his experience. “I had some blurry vision after the Philly game [on Jan. 19]. I was driving home to my daughter’s [first] birthday party and I knew something was wrong.
“That whole night, it didn’t get better. So I went in, saw the retina specialist right away and he said, ‘You have a detached retina and we need to do surgery right away.’ It was pretty scary and there wasn’t a guarantee I was going to see again. You definitely stop and pause after you hear that.”
He initially couldn’t play with his child or watch television following the surgery, but he was fortunately able to recover.
Although Okposo had been highly regarded for a while, he didn’t breakout until the 2013-14 campaign when he recorded 27 goals and 69 points in 71 contests. He showed he could maintain that high level of play by scoring 14 goals and 44 points in 46 contests this season before being sidelined.
The Islanders have posted a respectable 12-7-3 record during his absence and are in the running for the Presidents’ Trophy. With Okposo back though, they’re in a far better position going into the playoffs. They’ll play against the New York Rangers tonight.