Urho Vaakanainen missed a slew of games in February but returned to Bruins practice Wednesday morning wearing a red non-contact sweater.
Even though the Boston defenseman, who hasn’t played since Feb. 19, is nearing a return, his spot in the pairings is not guaranteed.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy would be forced to take someone out of the lineup who’s been playing well, and he’s not willing to sit Connor Clifton — who’s improved his game of late — in order to see what kind of progress Vaakanainen has made.
“He’s going to have to practice here,” Cassidy told reporters after Wednesday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, per team-provided audio. “I think Cliffy’s done an outstanding job now this time around in terms of he’s been much more consistent, much more clean in his game this time around with consecutive games now really building up for him. That’s one we’ll keep an eye on. We’re not going to take a guy out now to see how much a guy’s progressed. Urho needs to play. We need to find out where he’s at and make sure we get him in there, but it won’t be automatic as soon as he’s healthy.”
The Bruins just wrapped up a six-game, 12-day road trip that saw them go 5-1-0. They’ve certainly built chemistry over the last few weeks and have looked like the NHL’s team to beat at times, so it would be wise for Cassidy to stick with what’s working.
Boston returns to action Thursday night when it hosts the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on NESN.
