Bergy will be ready
B’s center gets back on skates
Patrice Bergeron put himself through some strenuous paces yesterday with skating coach Kim Branvold before the captains’ practice. Bergeron then stayed on the ice to take part in the session with a smattering of Bruins teammates before finally doing an off-ice workout.
Bergeron is not yet 100 percent following June surgery to repair an injured groin, so he will not travel with the team to China in a couple of weeks, instead staying home to continue his rehab. He does expect to be ready for opening night in Washington on Oct. 3.
“Minus the 16-hour flight, I am disappointed. It would be nice to be with the boys and do some bonding and be with them,” Bergeron said at Warrior Arena. “But that being said, it’s out of my control and I’ll try to make the most of it here.”
Bergeron hoped to avoid surgery, but when he tried working out, the injury flared up again immediately. The delay has put him a little behind schedule.
“Hindsight’s 20-20,” he said. “Obviously when you look back, I would have liked to do it right away, but in talking with the training staff and doctors, there was a chance it would go either way. Unfortunately it stayed and got worse. It would have been nice to get it done right away, but you never know and you always try to avoid surgery.”
Bergeron had hernia surgery in the summer of 2017 but the groin issue cropped up at the start of last season, causing him to miss the first five games. He battled it off and on throughout the season. The 33-year-old center now hopes his core issues are behind him.
“It’s something that now it should be done with and gone away and I shouldn’t have to look back and have so many issues,” he said.
It will, however, be an area for precaution.
“I’ll obviously be taking more care of that area and doing a lot of rehab, or pre-hab, I should call it, to make sure I stay on top of it,” said Bergeron. “As the year goes by, your body gets overused a little bit, so you want to stay on top of it.”
The B’s will need a healthy Bergeron to stay close in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay remains the team to beat, Toronto added John Tavares and both Florida and Buffalo appear to be gaining.
“It’s a great challenge and I think you should be proud to be in that category in the toughest division,” Bergeron said. “It’s something that is going to be good for us. Last year was a year we showed a lot of good things and hopefully learned a lot from and gained a lot of experience for the younger guys. We all know it starts from scratch and each year is a clean slate to make sure you’re back . . . and feeling good. I’m looking forward to it.”
Prior to practice Bergeron was on the ice with Torey Krug, who broke his ankle in Game 4 against Tampa Bay, and Noel Acciari, who underwent sports hernia surgery.
Now one of the ongoing questions is whether coach Bruce Cassidy will move David Pastrnak from Bergeron’s line to the David Krejci line to try to balance out the scoring.
“This is something you guys talk a lot about in the summer,” said Krejci.
Krejci and Pastrnak were paired on the Czech Republic team at the World Championships and, by all accounts, were dazzling together. If Cassidy puts the countrymen together, Krejci would not put up a beef.
“He’s a world class player and any time you get to play with someone like that, it helps your game and it makes you feel good about yourself,” said Krejci. “Obviously, I would like to play with him, but there are so many other guys here and my focus is to be ready 110 percent focused for the camp.”
Krejci also shed a few pounds to keep up with the quickening pace of the game.