There was bad news and good news out of the Bruins' media day session on Monday in advance of Wednesday night's season opener against the Capitals in Washington.
First, the good news.
Bruce Cassidy said it was likely that Patrice Bergeron, who had offseason groin surgery but was also sidelined in camp with back spasms, was likely to start against the Capitals.
"Did very well in practice today, no setbacks at all, participated in every drill," Cassidy said. "I’m anticipating he’ll be ready to go Wednesday.
"I would suspect he would’ve preferred to play a game or two. I think that’s human nature to shake the rust off. I think he also understands that when you have an injury, you have to make sure you get yourself ready to go for the regular season, much more important than an exhibition game or two. Listen, I think that he’ll get up to speed in a hurry. That’s just the type of player he is. He’s detail-oriented. He’s been able to participate now in two full practices, I believe, so he’s getting some of the rust off there."
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As for the bad news ... Torey Krug was wearing a walking boot on his left ankle, evidence of an injury he suffered in his second game back from a fractured left ankle. Krug and Don Sweeney said this injury, which will require Krug to be out at least three weeks, is unrelated to his previous fracture.
"Same foot, different injury; (the doctors) say it's not related," said a downcast Krug. "You work really hard, especially throughout the summer, to feel comfortable and put yourself in a position to get back in the lineup and obviously it felt like I was just starting to work through timing issues and getting my gap back, and then all of a sudden to have another setback ... it's frustrating. It's unfortunate, very unlucky and kind of a freak thing, but it's part of it.
“(It's) obviously unfortunate to have to go through something like this again. It's a tough part of our job but something I'll have to re-evaluate in a few weeks and just go through the grind of working through another injury."
BSJ analysis
Obviously, Krug's injury is a big blow for him and the team considering he ran the point on the league's fourth-best power play last season.
Youngsters Charlie McAvoy, rookie Urho Vaakanainen or Matt Grzelcyk (who's been limited with his own lower-body injury) will likely get a shot to fill in for the interim.
“We’ll have somebody young up there,” Cassidy said. “There’ll be a bit of a learning curve there, so we’ll have to probably simplify it, get it into (David Pastrnak’s) hands a little more often. Maybe less movement, more pucks to the net, and rely on the other group to pick up some of the slack. David Krejci is a very accomplished player in this league, he’s in charge of the second group, so we’ll rely on that group again to be more productive. And they should have more opportunities as well.”
The 19-year-old Vaakanainen, the team's 6-foot-1, 185-pound first-round pick in 2017, was probably the most impressive prospect for the Bruins during the preseason.
"I think, as (Don Sweeney) alluded to, he did play against men (in Finland), so we figured that he would be a little bit ahead in that regard in terms of not being intimidated in that environment," Cassidy said. "But I think his ability to get back on pucks and his composure and poise in a smaller rink, in a more physical game has been very good. We’ve used him in a few offensive situations. He’s made good decisions with the puck, so maybe there’s a little more to his game there than what he was able to show overseas that you’d like to see out of a top pick."
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Owner Jeremy Jacobs, as he usually does, set a high bar for the Bruins entering the new season.
"I think they look really ... they’re young. We’ve got that on our side and we’ve got a good warehouse of talent," he said. "I expect them to improve on last year. We didn’t start as strongly, well I guess it was more the finish we didn’t have last year."
"So is that 51 wins?" Cam Neely chimed in.
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Cassidy was asked if John Tavares makes the Maple Leafs, who took the Bruins to seven games last season, the division's biggest threat.
"They added a good player. They subtracted (James) van Riemsdyk and (Tyler) Bozak, two good players as well, so you have to factor that in. Until we see them it’s tough to tell how good they can be. What they do have, like us I believe, is they have some good young players that you assume will get better. I think that will push them along as much as the Tavares signing."