Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand is expected to be on the ice for the first day of training camp on Sunday. With this good news, he also is on track to possibly return from offseason surgery when the Bruins open up their season on January 14.
Marchand had sports hernia mended on September 14 and the recovery time was approximately four months, which would project him to return in mid-January.
«Marchand is doing really well," general manager Don Sweeney said Thursday. "He's been on the ice pretty much every day. He will start to integrate into the main group of players from Day One of training camp.»
"It's more of a volume and comfort level for him. He's done a lot of work on and off the ice and finding his hands and his timing and his overall conditioning. We'll be careful with it, but he's made a nice progression."
The Canadian winger was second on Boston last season in scoring, with 87 points (28 goals, 59 assists) in 70 games, trailing only linemate David Pastrnak for the team lead. He tied for the team lead in postseason points with David Krejci, tallying 12 points (7 goals, 5 assists) in 13 games.
Marchand remains a key part of the team, helping form arguably the best line in the NHL with David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. Pastrnak will not be available until mid-February as he is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right hip.
"David is certainly a longer timeline to return to play and be back on ice in a regular fashion," Sweeney said. "He won't initially integrate into the main practice group as he increases volume in his own return to play. It's unlikely that he starts the opening couple games, but we're going to monitor week-by-week and we'll continue to give you updates as they progress."
Source: nhl.com
