More Bruins deemed ’unfit to participate’

All things considered, the first week of what head coach Bruce Cassidy calls Return-to-Play practices had seemed to go pretty well. Sure, the Bruins were disappointed that scoring leader David Pastrnak and projected second-line winger Ondrej Kase had been extremely limited participants, but Cassidy had otherwise been able to prepare a high percentage of the 33 players on the Bruins’ expanded roster as planned.

Until Saturday.

Cassidy, who had pushed practice at [...]

All things considered, the first week of what head coach Bruce Cassidy calls Return-to-Play practices had seemed to go pretty well. Sure, the Bruins were disappointed that scoring leader David Pastrnak and projected second-line winger Ondrej Kase had been extremely limited participants, but Cassidy had otherwise been able to prepare a high percentage of the 33 players on the Bruins’ expanded roster as planned.

Until Saturday.

Cassidy, who had pushed practice at Warrior Arena to 3 p.m. to mirror the start times of upcoming games in the Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto, didn’t have enough players for a scheduled full scrimmage.

In addition to Pastrnak and Kase, who were both allowed on the ice only once in the first six days of Phase 3 of the NHL’s Return-to-Play plan, seven other Bruins — all of whom had participated in all four previous full-team sessions — fell under the mandated heading of "unfit to participate." Joining Pastrnak and Kase were No. 1 goalie Tuukka Rask, No. 2 center David Krejci, defenseman and power-play quarterback Torey Krug, the entire third line of Nick Ritchie, Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly, and fourth-line winger Chris Wagner.

Bob Norton, who is Coyle’s agent, told several media outlets on Sunday that his client missed Saturday's practice because of an inconclusive COVID-19 test, which later proved to be negative.

The B’s did devote some of Saturday to a scrimmage, but with only four full lines — most assembled on the fly — they couldn’t do so for long. The coach still hopes to get in one or two full scrimmages before the team’s scheduled departure for Toronto on Sunday, but as the Bruins and 23 other teams navigate the numerous health rules, regulations and protocols associated with attempting to resume a season interrupted by the COVID-10 pandemic, it has become apparent that coaches may not know which players are available until they arrive at their respective rinks.

"That’s kind of what you’re starting to see every day," Cassidy said.

Because "unfit to participate," a collectively bargained term between the NHL and NHL Players Association to protect players’ privacy, covers every player who isn’t on the ice, it’s largely impossible to know if a player is absent because he has reentered a Return-to-Play restriction associated with COVID-19, or is hurt. That leads to speculation that all absentees are in some type of isolation or quarantine for reasons up to and including a positive test.

"Rightfully so," Cassidy said. "When you don’t get answers, you’re going to speculate. That’s what we’ve opened ourselves up to."

Cassidy did elaborate a bit, including an admission that he’s not always 100 percent certain of the rules, and simply goes by what he’s told by the team’s medical staff.

"Sometimes I don’t know what happened to each and every individual through their testing — what they were told, how long to quarantine," he said. "I get a pretty good idea, but it seems to differ between players."

Fourth-line winger Joakim Nordstrom would be one example. A full participant on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (Wednesday was a scheduled day off), he was absent on Friday, but back on the ice again on Saturday. Pastrnak and Kase, meanwhile, didn’t get onto the ice until Wednesday’s small-group sessions, and didn’t skate with the team after that.

"There’s always different reasons," said Cassidy, adding that he hoped some of those who couldn’t skate on Saturday would make up for the lost time on Sunday, a scheduled day off for all others. "There’s quarantine rules, waiting on test results — there’s a number of different things that factor into this. It doesn’t automatically assume (absentees) had a positive test."

Because his agent announced that Pastrnak hadn’t tested positive for COVID-19, but had been exposed to someone who had, there’s some clarity there. There’s also evidence that Rask is nursing an injury: He left two practice sessions — one briefly, the other permanently — and was seen on Friday’s league-wide video conference discussing his Vezina Trophy (best NHL goalie) nomination with two fingers taped together on his left (catching) hand.

Whatever he can or can’t say, Cassidy can definitely coach only the players deemed fit to take the ice. Perhaps a little surprisingly, he thought the B’s had a good first week.

"I would say we (did) a lot of what we wanted to do," the coach said. "We’re one day behind for the scrimmage part, which I see as an easy chance to make up on Monday or Tuesday. We just need the numbers to do it."

More important, they need "fit" bodies when they leave for Toronto, where they and 11 other Eastern Conference teams will be housed in a "bubble" environment designed to limit the spread of the virus.

"Once we get into the bubble, I can’t imagine that many guys are going to get sick," said first-line winger Brad Marchand, who had perfect attendance in Week 1. "Obviously, there’s that chance, but I would expect that they’re going to do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen."

The B’s need a good week in Boston before that, though.

"We want to get to Toronto as healthy as possible," Cassidy said.