'Thrilled at the opportunity:' Justin Williams rejoins Canes

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- There seemed an inevitability to Justin Williams' return, but to hear him tell it, there were no guarantees.

"I wasn't bored," Williams said Wednesday at the news conference announcing his return.

Williams may have plenty of outside interests, but it's clear that he also wasn't ready to be finished as an NHL hockey player. He still yearned to "compete against the best in the world" and maybe even more so, was eager to be back in the locker room with his buddies.

He spoke of receiving a slew of supportive text messages from his teammates when the news broke Tuesday night but told me today that as much as they're happy to have him back, "I wanted them more."

Justin said he's contemplated life after hockey since roughly age 31, so being 38 now, that's a lot of thinking.

"There are things that are more important, like family," he said, but he added that his children were adamant he return to the team. Turns out it's pretty cool to have a dad that plays for the Hurricanes.

The hockey part of this is easy. There should be no worry about his re-integration into the Hurricanes lineup, whenever that happens.

He'll be a valuable addition to the forward group and his leadership goes without saying, even if it doesn't come with a formal "C" on his chest this year. That now belongs to Jordan Staal.

You only need to look at the list of top contending teams who were jockeying for his services to know that he's still a coveted asset in the league.

Williams has been working out for weeks, trying to ready himself for a return so that in his words, he'd only be going from "B to A and not D to A" in turns of game fitness.

This move is a no-brainer, and financially the Hurricanes front office was able to structure his contract so as not to hamper their flexibility to potentially add another piece this year or to strap them in the coming years with bonus payments.

I asked the final question of Wednesday's news conference: "Is there any scenario where you would've told Justin, 'thanks, but no thanks?'"

Team owner Tom Dundon leaned into the microphone and responded simply, "No."

Enough said.