David Pastrnak, Ondrej Kase deemed ‘unfit to participate’ at camp — what’s next for Bruins?

Just a day removed from having both their leading scorer and fellow top-six winger both return to the ice, the Bruins’ Phase 3 plans suffered a serious setback on Thursday, as both David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase did not participate during Day 4 of Boston’s Return To Play camp at Warrior Ice Arena. 

Pastrnak and Kase, who both made their camp debuts on Wednesday after sitting out Monday and Tuesday’s practices, did not take part in either of the workouts scheduled for Thursday, with Bruce Cassidy noting after practice that both players were ruled out due to the new wide-ranging injury/health designation put in place. 

“As for the league, it's 'unfit to participate' right now,” Cassidy said of how the NHL is characterizing Pastrnak and Kase’s absence in official terms. “Hopefully that changes in the near future. Any time players miss you know a session where we expect them back up to full speed, until he's out there then it is a concern for us as a team — but we're just going to forge ahead.”

Clearly, this wasn’t something the Bruins were expecting to crop up, considering both players were cleared to practice Wednesday. Cassidy stated that the tentative plan was for both wingers to rejoin the main training-camp group during Thursday’s practice, while Pastrnak was scheduled to chat with reporters via Zoom this morning. 

As for the vague terms of Pastrnak and Kase’s status — unfortunately we need to get used to them, as “unfit to play/practice/participate” will be the official designation for any player missing from practice/games from now through the end of this postseason. 

This new measure was implemented


by the league in order  to protect medical privacy, but with teams not allowed to disclose injuries or the cause for a player’s absence, it’s going to lead to plenty of speculation when it comes to determining the omission of a player during a practice or game. 

From Cassidy’s perspective, there isn’t a set timetable when it comes to charting out Pastrnak and Kase’s return, but he isn’t viewing it as a situation in which the club will make the trek up Toronto with both wingers out of commission. 

“Am I thinking ahead to being without those guys in the round robin or playoffs? No,” Cassidy said. “I'd be speculating. But yeah, for today and if I get word later today that the same thing is gonna happen tomorrow, then we start thinking, 'Okay, we've looked at a couple guys. Anything else?' We'll meet as a staff to go through that. But there's only so many guys that would go up to say David's spot. Kase came late. So there's a lot of different guys that played in that spot. We know that with David (Krejci) on his right side, so that would be nothing new

“But to miss both of them? Sure, it is an opportunity for someone else. But like I said, I'm not thinking too far ahead other than, 'Hey, if it does turn into a long term, who's the best fit?' And that's why we move different pieces around there.”

Ideally, Pastrnak and Kase’s absence might only linger for a few days, if not just for Thursday’s practice. But if not, then Cassidy and his staff will have their work cut out for them in terms of finding viable top-six replacements for both scrimmages later this week and potentially round-robin play at the start of August. 

Based on the first few days of practice, it would seem that Anders Bjork, Karson Kuhlman and Jack Studnicka are the early favorites when it comes to earning a promotion up into the top-six. 

Bjork, who has skated with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on a number of days so far in camp, has already set himself apart from other younger wingers during Phase 3 — and could be a suitable short-term replacement up on that top line over the next few weeks.

Bjork originally started with Bergeron + Marchand when he made his NHL debut back in October 2017, with the trio of 63-37-10 posting a 58.97% shot share and 4.02 goals for per 60 minutes rate over 59:40 of 5v5 ice time together. 

(For reference, the regular 63-37-88 line has a goals for per 60 minutes rate of 3.63 over the last three seasons — 1,634:07 of 5v5 TOI together). 

In terms of familiarity, Kuhlman is a logical fit next to Krejci and Jake DeBrusk for now. Even if that trio underwhelmed this season (just one 5v5 goal scored in 132:43 of 5v5 TOI this year), the 2018-19 campaign was a different story — with the addition of Kuhlman solidifying a new second line that tallied eight goals in 68:34 of 5v5 ice time. 

Studnicka, given his high-end skill and speed, is also a favorite to earn some minutes next to Krejci during camp, especially with Kase’s status still up in the air. Even though Cassidy would likely want to hand those playoff minutes to players with more experience, a couple of strong outings from Studnicka during scrimmages or round-robin play could change those sentiments.

Still, these are all short-term solutions — and ones that, despite some intrigue, would seriously hamper a loaded Boston team expected to orchestrate a deep playoff run into the fall.

Boston already knows what a fully healthy Pastrnak could have provided to the club last summer, when they came just 60 minutes short of a Stanley Cup title. Not having both him and Kase on the ice this summer would be a knockout blow to their Cup hopes.

“We've kind of plugged different guys in, so obviously missing two guys that play up in your lineup and a guy like David that's your leading scorer — You want them in there, you want him getting back into condition, you want him returning to the ice and being with his teammates,” Cassidy said. “But he's not. Today we used Anders up there. We'll mix different guys in — we used Jack Studnicka a little bit on the wing — he gets a look with Krech, Kuhley's been there before. So it does allow you to do some other things, but obviously we prefer having both those guys back in there.”

Here is a look at how the rest of the lines shaped up on Thursday, with a smaller group of skaters taking part in an afternoon practice shortly after the primary team made their way off the ice:

Marchand-Bergeron-Bjork
DeBrusk-Krejci-Kuhlman/Studnicka
Ritchie-Coyle-Kuraly
Nordstrom-Lindholm-Wagner

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Lauzon
Moore-Zboril

Halak
Vladar

Second Session:

Frederic, Clifton, Vaakanainen, Blidh, Senyshyn, Carey, Lagace

———

Rask exits early: 

Along with Pastrnak and Kase’s absence, the Bruins were also without their top netminder for most of Thursday’s practice — as Tuukka Rask exited after just 10-15 minutes on the ice and did not return. 

Speaking after practice, Cassidy noted Rask was shaken up a bit after a puck struck him during Tuesday’s practice — a bit of bad luck that might have plagued him again on Thursday.

“I think he got stung the other day with a shot,” Cassidy said of Rask. “Hit him in the wrong spot. So maybe that was acting up again today. I'm going to get an update in a little bit if there's anything serious. 

“They have not come to me, so that's typically a good sign if they don't come right to you, so I'm suspecting he's had a little bit of bad luck in the same spot for a couple days and hopefully it sorts itself out. These will be some of the bumps and bruises and aches that are going to start to appear now with your group.”