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DETROIT – With early season injuries to Alex Edler and Loui Eriksson, the Vancouver Canucks are sitting one man under the National Hockey League’s 23-player roster. Brendan Gaunce would like to make that roster spot his own. And according to the hockey club, the big centre is nearing a return to game action six months after surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Gaunce has been skating for more than five weeks and since October 9 – two days after the Canucks season opener – the 23-year-old has been part of the team’s main practice group. Each day since then he’s been a day closer to getting the green light to play. Gaunce has been medically cleared for game action, but remains on the Canucks injured list, so he’ll miss his eighth game of the season tonight.

But his season debut – either with the Canucks or their American Hockey League affiliate in Utica – could happen by the end of the week.

“I feel great,” Gaunce told TSN1040.ca after an extended morning skate at Little Caesar’s Arena. “I’ve worked really hard over the last six months to make sure my shoulder isn’t an issue this year. That was something I harped on this summer and I didn’t want to have it alter my season when I came back. I’m ready to go whenever it happens. It was a pretty significant surgery so I’m just getting back into it and getting the mentality of having game days and game day skates and hopefully playing soon.”

Gaunce had surgery on April 20th in Vancouver and was told at the time recovery could take up to six months. This past Friday marked six months since the procedure and the 2012 first round draft pick reports no issues with his rehabilitation. Like any athlete coming off a significant medical procedure, Gaunce had hoped he could defy the odds and be ready sooner than expected, however as summer moved along he knew that simply wasn’t going to be the case.

So as much as he’d love to be playing and helping the hockey club, he’s had to stay patient through the process and that’s been one of the biggest challenges – playing the waiting game as his teammates play hockey games.

“I changed my mindset in late August because I was pretty nervous not to make camp because I wanted to show them I’d worked hard over the summer and this wasn’t going to be something that affected my season,” he said. “It’s a six month recovery time, so there’s no point in rushing it because it could happen again. For me, I’m excited just to come to the rink every day and be with the guys and that was a big step for me to be able to be around them again. Now the next step is getting into a game.”

It seems unlikely that Gaunce will start his season in the NHL. A conditioning stint in Utica seems the more likely bet for a player who hasn’t been involved in game action since March 7th. Canucks coach Travis Green wouldn’t tip his hand on which way the organization is leaning, but acknowledged Gaunce is now more of a healthy scratch on a nightly basis than one of his injured players.

“He’s close to playing,” Green said. “We’ll make a decision here soon in the next probably four or five days on what to do with him whether it’s send him down for conditioning or throw him into a game. But he’s definitely getting closer.”

As for Gaunce, he’s open to the idea of starting his season in the minors. It’s not where he wants to spend the bulk of his time, but it would afford him the opportunity to test the shoulder to clear whatever doubts may exist about his ability to perform at his best in the NHL.

“If I did that, I’d take it as a preseason of sorts for me” he explained. “Obviously the games matter down there for them – and they’d matter for me, too. I’m excited to play wherever I am and as soon as I can.”

Where he fits in the Canucks line-up remains a mystery as Green continues to shuffle his line combinations with regularity. Gaunce did not score and had just five assists in 57 games primarily as a left winger on a fourth line that controlled possession favorably most nights, but failed to generate any offence. And in 77 career games, the Sudbury, Ontario native remains stuck on one NHL goal.

One area Gaunce feels strongly that he can help the Canucks is on the penalty kill. The injury to Eriksson (who is a week into a 4-6 week recovery for a knee sprain) has left an opening for someone who can win face-offs and win puck battles. After Brandon Sutter, Derek Dorsett, Markus Granlund and Bo Horvat, the Canucks penalty killing depth is being tested on a nightly basis. Alex Burmistrov and Sam Gagner have been used sparingly in the early going, but a player like Gaunce may be able to step in and help in that regard.

“I’ve done it my whole life and I’m pretty confident in doing and I feel I’m good at. And if it doesn’t happen, obviously it’s something I can work on throughout the year. But I’m trying not to get ahead of myself. It (recovery) was a long process and a lot of work so I don’t want to overstep my boundary. I am pretty excited just getting closer and closer to the day I am going to play a game.”

By the end of the week, Brendan Gaunce could be playing hockey again. And by the end of the month, it could be for the Canucks.