"I feel really good," Neilson, 65, said. "As a matter of fact, I feel good enough to coach, really, but the doctors and (general manager) Bobby Clarke feel that I should wait till the second round ... so during the first round I'll just help out in any way I can."

The Flyers open the playoffs Thursday night against Buffalo.

Neilson said not being able to participate was not what was on his mind during his hospital stay.

"While you're in the hospital you're just kind of trying to survive," Neilson said. "The last three weeks, we've been working hard trying to get back in shape and walking three miles a day and getting a lot of swimming in down in Florida ... and we're looking forward to just being back with the team."

Neilson also said he expects the Flyers will work well with injured star Eric Lindros if he recovers from his Grade II concussion in time to rejoin the team during the playoffs.

"The players realize that a player of his caliber, if he's playing well, is going to help us," Neilson said.

Lindros had publicly criticized the team for not recognizing quickly that his injury was as serious as it turned out to be. Team officials initially said he did not have a concussion, then concluded he had a Grade I concussion, the least severe kind, until he went to see a specialist in Chicago who determined it was a Grade II concussion (a Grade II can cause memory loss). The team removed Lindros from the position of team captain following his public criticism, but said the move was not punishment for his remarks.

"Eric and I talk on the phone every so often but, yeah, it was a difficult thing for the team," Neilson said. "A lot of things were said that should have been said in private. It wasn't a good situation."

Interim coach Craig Ramsay, Neilson's assistant, agreed with Neilson that he expects the team to work well with Lindros.

"The players realize how good a hockey player he is and what he can bring with him," Ramsay said.

Dr. Isadore Brodsky, the chief of oncology hematology at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, has been treating Neilson for a form of cancer called multiple myeloma. Neilson was diagnosed with cancer Dec. 9. On March 10, he underwent a stem cell transplant. He was released from the hospital on March 23.

Multiple myeloma is a form of cancer similar to leukemia. It attacks plasma in the bone marrow and quickly makes blood cells malignant. The coach's only sister, Joan Neilson, died from the same disease two years ago.