Noel Acciari returning to health, ready to play his game again for Bruins on revamped line

As the Bruins continue training camp and gear up for the start of a new regular season in just over two weeks, Noel Acciari is happy to be healthy.

The Johnston, R.I., native and Providence College alum took his first steps towards returning to game action, skating for a short period at the beginning of the first of two Monday practice sessions at Warrior Ice Arena.

“It was good to be back with the group and be more in practice form, so I'm taking a good step there,” said Acciari, who dealt with a sports hernia for the better part of last season despite playing in 60 regular-season and 12 playoff games. “It's night and day between how I felt last year and now, so I'm excited for the season.”

Acciari is expected to continue on a similar schedule in the coming days with hopes of suiting up in a game before the end of the preseason. The Bruins visit Washington, Detroit, and Philadelphia within the next week before taking on the Red Wings and Flyers at TD Garden on September 26 and 29, so it’s likely that Acciari’s debut would come in one of those latter games.

The Bruins always know they’ll get a good, hard, and honest game out of Acciari. He’s looking to contribute more of the same in his fourth NHL season, though fellow former Friar Tim Schaller won’t be part of the equation on his line this year as the Merrimack, N.H., native signed with the Vancouver Canucks as a free agent this offseason.

“I want to continue how our line last year had a good stretch of just being a tough line to play against,” Acciari said, “just getting matched up against those top lines, being able to shut them down, and give our top two lines a chance to rest here and there.”

Perhaps a free agent addition like Chris Wagner or Joakim Nordstrom ― who are both part of the B’s squad skating in China and will return home this weekend for the remainder of the preseason slate ― would complement Acciari’s game well.

No matter who ends up on his line, nothing will change.

“However the lines end up, I'm going to give what I usually give,” said Acciari, who scored 11 of his 17 career points last regular season before adding a couple in 12 playoff games.

“I'm usually easy to play with and they know what they're going to get from me. It'll take a game or two, but I think we'll figure it out pretty quick. I'm easy going and my game's simple ― north-south, throw a hit, and get pucks in deep. I think it's easy to feed off that.”

Not only does Wagner bring a similar element to his game, but he’s also coming off a career offensive year as he scored 15 points on six goals in 64 games for the New York Islanders. Nordstrom spent the last three years in Carolina, playing at least 71 games in each and totaling 43 points. No matter what the offensive numbers look like, they do their primary job well in playing hard at the other end of the rink.

In fact, Acciari, the Wagner, and Kevin Hayes of the New York Rangers skated together during their youth career with the South Shore Kings. Acciari would surely welcome the opportunity to team up with the Walpole native again, and assistant coach Joe Sacco sees some potential in such a pairing.

“They’d certainly bring physicality,” Sacco said. “If you look at the way those two players play, they're in your face, finish their checks, hard on the other team's defensemen and making them uncomfortable when they're going back for pucks. Noel's already done that here (in the NHL), and Wagner's done that wherever he's been before.”

Also on the personnel and injury front, defensemen Torey Krug joined Acciari on the ice prior to the first session as he recovers from a fractured ankle, while North Reading native Ryan Fitzgerald did not participate in either session in order to nurse a minor injury suffered in yesterday’s game.

According to Sacco, Fitzgerald will be re-evaluated tomorrow when the Bruins have 10 and 11:15 a.m. practices scheduled prior to a quick trip to Washington for a rematch with the Capitals at 7 p.m.