Kariya Isn’t Trying to Rush Back

The abdominal muscle injury that kept Paul Kariya out of hockey’s World Cup has improved considerably, but Kariya might miss the exhibition season and said it’s still “iffy” whether he’ll be ready for the first game of the Mighty Ducks’ regular season.

“I don’t want to take any chances,” Kariya said. “Every game is important, but I want to be 100% the whole year. I don’t want to have to take a month off here and a month off there. I know enough about the severity of this injury that I can’t take chances.”

Management expects Kariya to be ready for the start of the season but has told him it will be left to him to decide about appearing in any exhibition games.

“I’m not even thinking about him in the preseason unless he feels 100% and tells us to wants to play,” General Manager Jack Ferreira said.

The Ducks open training camp Sept. 7 in Anaheim and start the season Oct. 5 at Toronto.

A 50-goal scorer last season, Kariya has a condition technically known as osteitis pubis, an inflammation of the muscles attached to his pubic bone that is more common in soccer players.

Mikael Renberg of the Philadelphia Flyers was found to have the same injury last January and sat out much of the second half of the season before playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, only to undergo surgery in May. Renberg is expected to be ready for training camp.

“From what I’ve heard about this injury, if it starts to feel better and you go right back at it, you can end up back at Square 1,” Kariya said. “[Surgery] is obviously a step I don’t want to take.”

Kariya withdrew from Canada’s World Cup team this month.

“It’s really improving. I have no more pain,” he said. “The most common thing is a month of complete rehabilitation and a month of strengthening before you start playing again. On that schedule, the start of the season is iffy right now.”

David McNab, assistant general manager of the Ducks, said speculation that Kariya’s injury could substantially impact his season is natural.

“The World Cup is such a huge thing. People think if you’re not going to play in the World Cup, it must be unbelievably serious. But a two-week injury can keep you out of the World Cup.”

The Ducks only hope the injury doesn’t keep him out of any NHL games.

“We’re expecting him to be ready,” McNab said. “But the exhibition season? It’s not exactly, ‘Who cares?’ but we’re not going to say to Paul, ‘We’ve got to get you ready for that First Flight Classic [intrasquad game].’ ”