BOSTON -- Johnny Boychuk has officially been diagnosed with a mild concussion now that the NHL trade deadline is over, and the Bs defenseman will miss some time with the injury.
The 28-year-old defenseman was rocked by a clean, devastating Chris Neil hit in the third period of Saturday nights 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators, and has been experiencing concussion symptoms since that point.
Peter Chiarelli officially revealed the diagnosis following Mondays passing of the trade deadline, but made it seem that the club doesnt expect the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder to be out of commission for long. Even so the Bs now have Mike Mottau and Greg Zanon in the fold, though Chiarelli also cautioned that Zanon might not physically be in Boston by Tuesday night for the game vs. the Senators.
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SIGN UP HERE Either way it appears Boychuk wont be playing with another concussion for a member of the Bs. His symptoms were alternately described as being a little foggy and having headaches over the last couple of days, so the Bruins are opting for caution and patience with their hard-hitting blueliner.
Johnny has a concussion. Its a mild concussion. Weve basically put together the concussion-type symptoms, said Chiarelli. But Boychuks injury didnt play into the trades. What Ive seen over my time in hockey is that defensemen can drop like flies. They really can.
You can never have enough defensemen. We felt we wanted to have eight NHL defensemen in the mix and that was the blueprint I was working on.
It would appear to be a lock that Mottau will be skating for his hometown Bruins tomorrow night against the Senators in a key Northeast Division tilt, but Boychuks return isnt believed to be far off for the Black and Gold. Claude Julien indicated on Monday morning that there's been no tangible progress in Nathan Horton's recovery and he's not close to getting back on the ice again soon.