The Boston Bruins will be without three veteran players when they begin their 2016-17 NHL season Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The team announced Wednesday that center Patrice Bergeron (lower body), and defensemen Adam McQuaid (upper body injury) and Kevan Miller (fractured left hand) won’t travel to Columbus.
Bergeron and McQuaid are day to day, while Miller is expected to miss six weeks after having surgery to repair his hand.
The Bruins also announced forward Tim Schaller has been recalled from the Providence Bruins.
Losing a player of Bergeron’s caliber is a huge blow to Boston. He’s one of the league’s top 10 players and makes a tremendous impact with his positive contributions to scoring, defense, puck possession and special teams.
McQuaid’s and Miller’s absence should allow younger D-men such as Rob O’Gara, Colin Miller and Brandon Carlo an opportunity to impress at the pro level.
Listed below are the lines and pairings at Wednesday’s practice. Thursday’s groupings for the game against Columbus could look quite similar.
Practice Groups
White: Spooner—Krejci—Heinen
Gold: Marchand—Backes—Pastrnak
Gray: Beleskey—Czarnik—Hayes
Merlot: Moore—Schaller—Nash—Acciari— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 12, 2016
#NHLBruins D pairs: Chara-Carlo; Krug-O'Gara, Liles-C.Miller. Morrow spare. Also Schaller here as spare forward.
— Mike Loftus (@MLoftus_Ledger) October 12, 2016
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Hoffman/USA TODAY Sports Images
