SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Coyotes assistant coach Jim Playfair captured the essence of defenseman Zbynek Michalek in one succinct quote.
"The thing with Z that's so impressive is I have never coached a player who can withstand so much pain and still be a quality player," Playfair said. "He's such a good pro."
Over the course of his career, Michalek has earned a fearless reputation, mostly due to his willingness to block any and every shot. He finished 18th among NHL defenseman with 160 blocks last season despite playing just 68 games. Beyond the blocks, however, Michalek has also dealt with hip issues, broken fingers, a cracked bone in his foot and "some other things" that he played through that few outside the locker room ever knew.
Maybe there's a reason for Michalek's seemingly higher pain threshold. He's used to it.
"I've always had bad hips," Michalek said Monday after an informal skate at the Ice Den. "The doctors were telling my parents since I was born that I had bad hips. It was something that probably ran in the family, something that was genetic, and all the skating definitely didn't help it."
Michalek had surgery on his hip in the 2012 offseason -- a month before the Coyotes reacquired him from Pittsburgh. On Monday, he revealed that he had a second hip surgery at an unspecified time.
"It was a hip scope; they cleaned things up," he said. "The pain was mostly located in the hip joint. I played with it and it definitely affected my skating, but it got to the point where it was bothering me a lot and starting to limit my normal life off the ice."
After revealing that tidbit, Michalek, 32, looked up at his locker, knocked three times on the wooden panel and smiled.
"As you get older, your body deals with more and more stuff, and it's not as easy to get up and get going in the morning like I did in my 20s," he said. "But after last season, my body felt the best it's been in a few years, and I've been really happy about it.
"It's a long season and a lot can happen, but I've got a pretty good routine now where I take care of my body pretty well in the summer and during the season. Hopefully, it will keep feeling good and I can keep going."
The Coyotes dealt Michalek to St. Louis at the trade deadline last season for center prospect Maxim Letunov, but Michalek always had an inkling he'd return to Arizona in free agency this summer.
"This team and organization and the whole city means so much to me," he said at the time. "That's where I began my NHL career and started to feel like a real influential player.
"The team and the organization went through some tough times. I want to help and be part of the solution."
Michalek's role in that solution will be twofold. On the ice, he provides veteran stability and a right-handed shot. The Coyotes do not have a perfect complement to Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the first defensive pairing, so Michalek could see time on that pairing, as will Michael Stone, unless the team is able to acquire a veteran right-handed defenseman -- which is not an easy process.
"He's a player that can play up and down the roster," said Playfair, who coaches the defense. "He could be our No. 2 with EL or our No. 6 with a young guy and give that young D some confidence. Wherever he plays, there will be no complaints and just a real consistent game."
In an ideal world, Michalek would drop to the third pairing while right-handers Stone and Connor Murphy elevate their games.
"If Stony can raise his game and play up with EL, I think we're a better team because that allows Z to go down and help one of our kids -- (Klas) Dahlbeck or (Brandon) Gormley," Playfair said. "Apart from what Z gives us as a shutdown defenseman, the lessons and the important direction he can give our young players is invaluable."
Those lessons carry off the ice to the dressing room, the training room and the gym, Playfair said.
"He's a real good teammate, and his work ethic and preparation really set the standard for our group in a lot of ways," Playfair said. "I had a meeting one day with Stone and Murphy and Gormley where we were watching videotape and going over the details of defending. We started talking about Z, and I asked them: 'When you watch Z, what do you see?'
"Every one of them said 'his preparation is unbelievable.' "
Michalek has already been back in the Valley for two weeks because his son, Andreas, has started kindergarten and his daughter, Ella, is in preschool. That's fine with Michalek. He likes being back in his routine.
"It's very time consuming sometimes, but I know I need to put in the time to stay on top of my health because I don't want to go through what I went through already," he said. "At this stage of my career, if something like that happened again, my career could be over."
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