BOSTON — Bruins forward Chris Kelly was in the lineup on April 8 against the Minnesota Wild where he played 10:16 of the Bruins’ shootout loss to the Wild. He skated just one shift in the third period and didn’t hit the ice again. That would be the final time he played in the 2013-14 season.
Kelly’s injury was a bit of a mystery. The team initially announced Kelly was suffering from back spasms, but as Kelly missed more and more time, it became clear that he was dealing with more than just back spasms. The veteran forward announced Friday at the Bruins’ break-up day that he had suffered a herniated disc.
Kelly will need surgery to repair the injury, but he’s confident he’ll be ready for training camp.
It was a fitting end to what was a frustrating year for Kelly. He missed a chunk of time in the middle of the season after he suffered a broken fibula in a Dec. 7 game against Pittsburgh.
“Obviously when you get injured in a year, it’s a frustrating year, but those things happen,” he said Friday. “I think that makes you stronger as a person, as a player and you just push forward.”
Kelly has two years left on his contract, but it might make sense to use a buyout on him, assuming he’s healthy.
Here are some more notes from the Bruins’ break-up day.
- Zdeno Chara wouldn’t go into any detail about his reported finger injury other than to say he doesn’t need surgery. Chara never took his left hand out of his jacket pocket while speaking with the media.
- Matt Fraser was walking around with crutches and a boot on his right foot. He said he broke the foot in Providence’s first-round series, which means he played through the injury after being recalled during the Montreal series.
- Dougie Hamilton on what the Canadiens did so well to slow down the Bruins: “Carey Price.”
- Patrice Bergeron was at the Garden on Friday, met with reporters and didn’t appear to have any holes in his lung. That’s a step up from last year’s break-up day when he was still at the hospital nursing a long list of injuries suffered in the Stanley Cup Final against Chicago.
- Shawn Thornton says he’d like to be back with the Bruins next season. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent, and the ball is now general manager’s Peter Chiarelli’s court. No decision has been made, but it certainly doesn’t sound like Thornton will be back. Chiarelli talked about “new trends” in hockey and spoke about how a role like Thornton’s is becoming less important.
- Thornton was clearly sick of talking about how he squirted P.K. Subban with water in Game 5 against Montreal. Thornton admitted his reputation probably took a hit, but he didn’t seem too concerned. “Whatever. It’s water. It’s not like I slashed somebody in the face.”
- Dennis Seidenberg said what both Cam Neely and Claude Julien said earlier this week. If the Bruins had advanced, he probably would have been ready to go in the Eastern Conference finals. Seidenberg said he was hoping to be ready for Game 1 or 2.
- Milan Lucic had a brace on his left wrist. He said he jammed it in Game 7 against Montreal, and he’ll need an MRI to get more information.
- Goalie Tuukka Rask said the first postseason plan of order is to get his newborn daughter U.S. citizenship so “then we can fly wherever we want.”
- Winger Daniel Paille appeared to be carrying some of his stuff out in a black trash bag. That’s really the only way to move.
