BOSTON — The Bruins announced Dec. 29 that defenseman Dennis Seidenberg would miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL and MCL in his right knee. Four months to that day, Seidenberg was back on the ice for Bruins practice.
Seidenberg participated in most of the drills Tuesday at TD Garden and didn’t appear to be limited. He did not participate in 3-on-3 drills, though. He was paired with Andrej Meszaros as part of the extra defensive pair.
“He’s just skated with us and doing everything that has no contact,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said after practice. “It’s more to get him out of boredom (of skating) on his own or with just another player. It gives him the opportunity to make some plays and passes with a little bit of traffic around him, too. We thought it was a good time for him that he’s strong enough with his skating that he can jump to that level right now.”
The B’s have yet to officially rule out a postseason return for the veteran defenseman, and Seidenberg’s continued progress continues to fuel that speculation.
Boston also had Daniel Paille on the ice for practice. The forward has been out since April 12 with a presumed concussion, but Paille was in a gold sweater Tuesday, which means he has been cleared for full contact. He was a member of the Patrice Bergeron line and took the place of winger Brad Marchand, who did not practice.
Other Bruins missing from practice were Adam McQuaid (leg), Chris Kelly (back) and Corey Potter (upper body).
Here are the lines and defensive pairings from Tuesday’s practice.
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Daniel Paille — Patrice Bergeron — Reilly Smith
Justin Florek — Carl Soderberg — Loui Eriksson
Jordan Caron — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Dougie Hamilton
Matt Bartkowski — Johnny Boychuk
Torey Krug — Kevan Miller
Dennis Seidenberg — Andrej Meszaros
Goalies: Tuukka Rask, Chad Johnson
