BRIGHTON, Mass. – David Krejci (hip surgery) and Torey Krug (surgery) are all systems go to dress and play in Tuesday night’s preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens in Quebec City and both said they’re not thinking about their recovery from offseason surgeries.
Krug’s timetable for recovery following surgery for a torn labrum was expected to take six months and initially was thought he might miss some games to start the regular season.
Instead, the 25-year-old Krug will suit up against the hated Habs, and said there are no limitations on him for his return.
“I’m excited. As a hockey player you want to play in games, and when you’ve been practicing and skating around all summer there comes a point where you want to get into the live action,” said Krug. “I was in good hands all summer. I put in a lot work to make sure I’d be prepared [to start the season] and I feel good right now.
“The energy the last couple of days compared to the start of camp has been completely different. It’s exciting to have those important players back for us, and now we can see the chemistry come together, and how different personalities come together. Now we can hopefully use these last few games to get prepared [for the season].”
It was expected that Krejci would be ready around this time of training camp and he’ll be centering an interesting top line full of centers with Ryan Spooner on his left side and David Backes skating the right wing with No. 46.
“You get a chance to evaluate things in preseason, and you get a chance to evaluate players in a position where you might hesitate in a league game,” said Claude Julien. “It gives you a chance to figure out whether certain guys can do it, and even if they’re not ready if they’re showing potential to be good at something.
Boston Bruins
“We’re trying stuff in our lineup to see different people, and play them in different positions. We want to be clear in our minds when we make the final decisions that we’ve explored every option.”
Below are the forward lines and defense pairings from Tuesday’s morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena, but some won’t be the same for the game with Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask all scheduled to suit up for the Black and Gold, as well:
Spooner-Krejci-Backes
Beleskey-Czarnik-Hayes
DeBrusk-Schaller-Acciari/Randell
Moore-Nash-Pastrnak
Ehrhoff-C. Miller
Krug-McQuaid
O’Gara-K. Miller
Rask
Subban