Less than three weeks after having a portion of his colon removed due to diverticulitis, Boston Bruins veteran forward David Backes is back on the ice. He participated in the team’s optional skate on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, while sporting a red no-contact sweater.
Backes actually began skating on his own during the team’s recent road trip and said he’s feeling better. He had the surgery on Nov. 2 and the original recovery timeline was eight weeks. That hasn’t changed, but he’s been given the green light to ramp up his rehab and conditioning.
“I’m just going to keep putting in the work,” Backes said. “For me, it was let’s start doing something as soon as it feels good, so that you stop the regression and at least hold where we’re at so that as it feels better and better we can get back to where we were conditioning-wise and we’re cleared for contact hopefully soon.”
A few days after the surgery, Backes was able to ride the stationary bike, but it was still tiring. Backes said he’s been given a little bit of a leash from the doctors to push the envelope given that he’s a pro athlete and he wants to return sooner than later.
“The more that I work, the better my recovery is and I’m able to do more the next day, so those are all positive signs,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get my skates back on the ice in a meaningful way in short order.”
Backes has been keeping close tabs on his teammates and the adversity the entire team has dealt with since the beginning of the season with numerous injuries to key players. Backes said he’s impressed with the team’s resiliency and he hopes to be back soon.
“To be back in the room is awesome,” Backes said. “To be on the ice, to be moving around, nothing like sitting around and doing a whole lot of nothing for too long to make you feel like you’re never going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m feeling good. I don’t know what everyone else’s expectations were, but the doc’s advice is if it doesn’t hurt then I can continue to progress and add more workload. My circulation is good for healing and it’s just good to be on the ice.”
- Also, Brad Marchand is expected to practice with the team on Tuesday. He's missed five of the last seven games with a concussion.
- Anders Bjork, who is also out with a upper-body injury, will not practice on Tuesday.
- Torey Krug is being re-evaluated by team doctors today and there will be an update tomorrow.
- Ryan Spooner (groin tear) is expected to practice on Tuesday.