"Definitely," he said.

	After nearly dying from a slap shot to the throat, Trent McLeary finds many reasons to smile during his recovery.

Only McCleary was not able to speak Tuesday. The Canadiens forward, recovering from a fractured larynx, wrote on a pad, underlining his one-word reply. He called his injury a "speed bump" in his career.

This was the first time McCleary was able to publicly thank his doctors and trainers for saving his life. McCleary nearly died after taking a slap shot to the throat.

He was flanked by three doctors and looked as if he had lost weight. He smiled and took questions.

Asked about the pain he had gone through, McCleary replied: "Not bad at all, the toughest was that it scared me as well as my family."

Dr. Francoise Chagnon said McCleary was ready to leave the hospital. He is to return for a checkup in two or three weeks.

Dr. Nader Sadeghi said McLeary will have "serviceable speech," but it is too early to say how his voice will be affected.

McCleary underwent surgery twice to repair his larynx. With his skates still on, he had an emergency tracheotomy Jan. 29 after he was struck by the shot from Chris Therien of the Philadelphia Flyers. Doctors said he would have died without the tracheotomy.