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Steve Yzerman has yet to play a game this season, but the veteran is still motivating the Red Wings.

The captain skated Tuesday morning, the first time he’s hit the ice since undergoing surgery on his right knee during the offseason, the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday.

“Totally shocked and surprised me,” a smiling Wings coach Dave Lewis told the newspaper. “I actually told him he looked like he was moving a bit better than he did last year in the playoffs.”

Yzerman, playing it down, went out and skated by himself for about 15 minutes.

“I didn’t really do a whole lot,” Yzerman told the Press. “I didn’t even break a sweat, just skated, just put my equipment on basically. So there wasn’t really much of a test of anything.”

Yzerman also said his knee felt fine, and he was skating while only wearing a sleeve on the knee, not a brace. Yzerman also skated again Wednesday.

“Certainly that was the buzz around the locker room, that Steve was on the ice,” Wings general manager Ken Holland told the newspaper. “Everybody was kind of excited.”

Yzerman isn’t following any specific program, but doctors recommended that he skate from time to time, and see how the knee responds.

“It’s part of his rehab now,” Holland added. “I just think it’s a step along the road to recovery.”

Holland added that although Yzerman is ahead of schedule in his rehab, it does not mean the team will bring him back before February.

“In the end we’re going to err on the side of caution; I believe he’s going to err on the side of caution,” Holland told the newspaper. “The most important thing is to make sure he’s 100 percent healthy. To rush him back doesn’t make any sense.”