Team president Cam Neely wishes both players had returned to the U.S. earlier after the season’s pause.
It looks more and more like the Bruins will have to wait for Stage 2 of Phase 3 of the NHL’s Return-to-Play plan to truly start preparing for Phase 4: Playing meaningful hockey games.
That’s the best guess of team president Cam Neely, at least. Speaking Wednesday morning on a videoconference with local reporters, Neely didn’t seem all that optimistic that wingers David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase would be allowed to join any full-team practices before Sunday’s departure for the NHL’s Eastern Conference hub in Toronto. The B’s are scheduled to play an exhibition game against the Blue Jackets next Thursday, July 30, before starting round-robin play against the Flyers on Sunday, Aug. 2.
"It’s hard to say right now," Neely replied when he was asked if he thought Pastrnak and/or Kase could practice locally by the end of the week. "My best guess would be Toronto. There’s hopes that before we leave, [they’ll skate with the team], but my best guess would be Toronto."
Pastrnak, the Bruins’ top scorer (95 points, fourth in the NHL), who tied for the NHL lead with 48 goals, and Kase, acquired in a Feb. 21 trade with the Ducks, had been on the ice at Warrior Arena only once through Wednesday. Believed to still be in the process of satisfying league and local testing and quarantine regulations for people traveling from Europe (Pastrnak and Kase, both Czech Republic natives, returned home when the NHL paused its season due to COVID-19 concerns on March 12), each skated in a small group on Wednesday, July 15, but haven’t been seen at Warrior since then.
Per regulations negotiated as part of the Return-to-Play plan between the NHL and NHL Players Association, teams are allowed to say only that players absent from practice sessions are "unfit to participate."
Neely could not say if recent photos that surfaced of Pastrnak and Kase in Boston’s North End, and skating at a local rink, were factors in their being unable to participate in team practices. He did acknowledge that he wished both players had returned to the United States sooner than they had.
"Of course," Neely said. "When we had the date for when camp started [Monday, July 13], and knew some players may need to quarantine when they get here, you kind of hope they would get here a little earlier. But we didn’t really have much say in that. That was really left up to the players.
"Obviously, with what’s played out and transpired, you certainly would have hoped there were some [different] decisions made, but in the long run, I don’t know if it’s going to really affect us once we get into Toronto. I think we’ll be fine."
That thinking makes sense in the case of Pastrnak, who is expected to quickly re-establish chemistry with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, his line mates for the last two seasons.
Kase, however, is a different story. Recovering from an injury when the Bruins obtained him, he got into only six games as the right wing for second-line center David Krejci and managed just a single assist.
"It takes time to get adjusted," Neely said. "We got [Kase] at the [trade] deadline, then we hit the pause not long after. He’s still got to get adjusted to our team, our system, his teammates.
"So, it’s been a little disappointing that we haven’t been able to get him on the ice, because we did get him for that reason — helping out with the secondary scoring."
Otherwise pleased by what he’d seen during more than a week of practices, Neely sympathized with head coach Bruce Cassidy and his staff’s inability to prepare as much as planned. Cassidy usually has replaced Pastrnak with Anders Bjork, a third-year pro with only 14 goals and 108 games on his NHL resume, although rookie pro Jack Studnicka took shifts Tuesday with Bergeron and Marchand. Kase generally has been replaced by Karson Kuhlman.
"We’ll see, once we get to Toronto, what happens with the lineup," Neely said. "Right now, as everybody’s seen, it’s been a little bit challenging for the coaching staff to put the groups and lines together the way they want.
"Hopefully, when we get into Toronto, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to do that. If we’re not, then some guys are going to have to step up, and I’m sure will relish the opportunities."