Patrick Kane is about to experience the lineup he anticipated when he joined the Detroit Red Wings, and it comes just in time.

For the first time since his arrival at the start of December, the Wings have all 23 players healthy. It was the full squad that went through a good 45-minute practice Thursday in preparation for Saturday's matinee against the Vancouver Canucks, which is the Wings' first game since an extended break.

Kane, defenseman Ben Chiarot, and goaltender Ville Husso were all dealing with injuries for much or all of January.

"It's great to be fully healthy and we can really build our game here going into the playoffs," Kane said. "We have 32 games left — some big, available points on the line and we have to take advantage of every game."

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Alex Lyon is slated to start, which makes sense given his stellar play helped the Wings go 9-2-2 in January. He's earned the right to the No. 1 spot, but having Husso available for the first time since Dec. 18 means the Wings don't have to ride Lyon like they did going into the break, when he started seven consecutive games.

"I just have to make sure that whenever I get the call, I’m ready," Husso said. "I think we’ve done a good job with off-ice stuff and on the ice.

"Missing almost two months, it’s a different kind of grind to get healthy. I feel full of energy. I haven’t played an NHL game in almost two months, so I have a lot of energy and a positive mindset. There’s a lot of hockey still, and it’s going to be a grind for us to stay above the line."

Kane practiced on a line with J.T. Compher and David Perron, and Chiarot was back on a pairing with Jeff Petry.

The Wings haven't been this healthy in months. When Kane made his debut Dec. 7, Compher was injured. The next game, Dec. 9, Dylan Larkin was injured, and David Perron slapped with a six-game suspension. Then Husso and Lyon suffered injuries, and Jake Walman missed multiple games because of illness.

"It’s a constant battle with attrition and when you can get healthy throughout the year,' coach Derek Lalonde said. "December was a disaster with losing our top two centers and two of our goalies.

"Knock on wood, we’re healthy. We’re going to have some tough decisions for scratches, but those are good problems to have. You saw us in December, we had trouble fielding a lineup with how many guys we had out, so, good timing on being healthy."

Based on practice, Klim Kostin will be the odd man out up front. Olli Määttä and Justin Holl rotated on a pairing with Shayne Gostisbehere.

It's the sort of lineup Kane anticipated when he chose the Wings to make his comeback from invasive hip surgery.

"That was one of the things I liked, was just the depth on the team," he said. "Every team I’ve been on that’s won has a lot of depth and you can count on different guys throughout your lineup to step up every night — it’s not the same two or three guys. That’s what is exciting about our team."

Chiarot hasn't played since leaving the Jan. 19 game with an upper-body injury that had been nagging. He has watched the last five games from the press box, getting a bird's-eye view of how well the Wings have been playing.

"You can tell our defensive structure looks tighter, looks more in place, you could say, from up top," he said. "That was what I noticed the most."

The Wings (26-18-6) will face a Canucks team that will have played twice this week, as their extended break came on the front side of the All-Star weekend. Lalonde described the Wings as "being at a disadvantage" in that regard, but at least they will have two practices before Saturday. From there, the schedule has them headed to western Canada and Seattle.

"It’s a fun time of year, playing important games," Chiarot said. "That’s what we have been striving for here since I got here, and what the organization is trying to build to. It’ll be a long of fun."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings finally have Patrick Kane back for playoff push