WILMINGTON, Mass. — While the Bruins sweated out the news of whether they would have Milan Lucic available in next couple of days after his hearing with NHL dean of discipline Brendan Shanahan, there was also plenty of interest in the status of a couple of other skaters.
Daniel Paille continued his road back from last week's scary shot to the face. He's been back on the ice for several days now, and on Monday, he participated in his first full practice since undergoing surgery on his broken nose last Wednesday.
It's still uncertain when he'll return to game action, but Bruins coach Claude Julien doesn't expect Paille to remain out too much longer.
"We'll see, we talked about him taking a few days to take care of that issue," Julien said. "It would depend on how he felt and how he looked and everything else. The minutes he's OK'd by the medical staff, then it becomes my decision to make."
When asked about Paille's quick return to practice after such a gruesome injury, Julien noted that is simply the hockey way. It's also part of the fabric of the sport that nothing is off limits when it comes to friendly chirping, and Julien got in a few jabs at the current appearance of his fourth-line winger, who is still sporting two black eyes and a bandage over his nose under the protective cage he's now wearing on the ice.
"People say hockey players are pretty tough individuals," Julien said. "I think that's a pretty fair assessment. They don't want to miss too much time. They want to get back into action. He started skating two-three days ago, so it's pretty impressive on his part to want to come back. He says he feels better. He doesn't really look good, but he feels a lot better than he looks."
Paille alternated with Jordan Caron on the left wing of the fourth line alongside Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton on Monday. Benoit Pouliot, a healthy scratch on Saturday against Buffalo, moved up to the third line with Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.
Defenseman Andrew Ference was the only Bruin not to practice on Monday. He remains out with a lower-body injury suffered Thursday against Edmonton. It's still not known when he'll be ready to return to the lineup, but Ference should be back on the ice soon.
"He's doing better," Julien said. "There's a very good possibility that he's going to start skating in the next day or so."
