WILMINGTON, Mass. — The majority of the Bruins returned to work Monday for their first practice back from the All-Star break, but there were a few bodies missing for the workout at Ristuccia Arena.
For some, the absence was a welcome one, as All-Stars Tim Thomas and Zdeno Chara remained in Raleigh, where they played in Sunday's All-Star Game and where the Bruins will take on the Hurricanes on Tuesday.
But for Marc Savard, Monday's practice was yet another day away from the team as he is once again sidelined with a concussion. As his teammates returned from the break, Savard remained at home in Peterborough, Ontario.
Bruins coach Claude Julien expects Savard to return to Boston soon for further evaluation, but couldn't offer much more of an update on the injured center's condition.
"He's going to be back tomorrow or the day after," Julien said. "He's going to be reevaluated. But when you say update, he still has some symptoms. They haven't totally disappeared. Again, we'll let the medical people deal with him when he gets back here. Hopefully for his sake, not for the team's sake, but more for his sake, he gets better. I think it's important for the individual here that's gone through that, that he takes care of himself. I think this organization — medical staff, upper management, everybody — has always done the right thing as far as that's concerned."
The Bruins aren't expecting to see Savard on the ice anytime soon, and they know other players will have to pick of the slack. Patrice Bergeron has already stepped up his offensive game, earning NHL First Star of the Month honors after putting up 8-9-17 totals in 14 games.
"I don't feel that because Savvy's out it's all on me," Bergeron said. "When a guy like Savvy goes out, you can't really replace [him] with one guy. It's about everybody chipping in to help and we'll have to do that for the rest of the year or whatever time Savvy is going to be out for."
The Bruins avoided another injury in practice when Nathan Horton left the ice early, accompanied by members of the training staff. But after practice Horton stated he had suffered just a "stinger."
"He's fine," Julien said. "It's just a precaution. He just got banged up a little bit and by the time he was ready to come back on [the ice], we were done."
