How Injured Bruins Defenseman Surprised Don Sweeney

There's a chance that Derek Forbort could make his way back from injury and return to the Boston Bruins during their playoff run.

It certainly wasn't what Bruins general manager Don Sweeney expected for the veteran defenseman.

Sweeney believed Forbort's season was "more than likely" over a month ago as the 32-year-old underwent surgery on what Sweeney called "two significant injuries." Forbort was placed on long-term injured reserve in early March.

"Yeah, that's a wait and see. I mean, Derek has made great strides, and a little bit surprisingly, to tell you the truth," Sweeney told reporters Thursday, per team-provided transcript. "He was on an operating table not too long ago for two different situations. So, good on him and good on the training staff."

Forbort reported to Boston's AHL affiliate earlier this week on an LTI conditioning loan. That will give Forbort, who played in 35 games for the Bruins this season and logged four assists to go along with a plus-8 rating, time to continue his recovery and get into playing shape.

While Forbort certainly is headed in the right direction, there's no target date established for him to rejoin the Bruins.

"We still have an undetermined timeline in terms of how he's going to continue to progress," Sweeney said. "But it's certainly a positive sign that he's made the progress that he has, and credit to Derek to tell you the truth... because he could have just arguably shut things down completely.

"But he wants to play, he's a gamer and wants to play. He wants to see whether or not the healing process can continue, and if he becomes a factor at some point in time during the playoffs.”

The Bruins open up the Stanley Cup playoffs Saturday night against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game on NESN.