With the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs almost officially upon us, with the action set to get underway Saturday (for both the Bruins and some other series around the league), injury updates are about to become few and far between.
At the very worst, it’s lying season. (See: When Patrice Bergeron’s bad back was called an illness and nothing more last spring.) And at the very best, it’s the time of where where injuries are assessed at either a lower- and upper-body level and kept internal.
But entering the playoffs, the Bruins did provide a couple of updates when it comes to their health entering Saturday night’s Game 1 showdown with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Oct 19, 2023; San Jose, California, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo (25) during the second period against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. (Stan Szeto/USA TODAY Sports)
On the backend, one player who did not require an update of any sort was defenseman Brandon Carlo.
Injured in the penultimate game of the regular season and held out of Game 82 for what the club called ‘maintenance’ and nothing more, Carlo has been a fixture at practice these last two days and looks set to lead Boston’s second pairing opposite Matt Grzelcyk.
The Bruins are going to lean on Carlo — and lean on him hard — in this series given the firepower the Leafs possess up front, from Auston Matthews to Mitch Marner to William Nylander and more. Carlo has had a ton of head-to-head time with Matthews this season, so it seems fair to assume that that will be his primary matchup out of the gate.
Feb 24, 2024; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Boston Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort (28) awaits the start of play against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period at Rogers Arena. (Anne-Marie Sorvin/USA TODAY Sports)
Elsewhere on the backend, the Bruins made an obviously intriguing move earlier this week with defenseman Derek Forbort sent down to Providence on what the team called a long-term injury conditioning loan.
The plan for Forbort, who has been practicing with the P-Bruins, is to get into AHL action this weekend and see where his body is at as he continues to work his way back from two separate surgeries last month. Given the work in front of him, the Bruins are understandably reluctant to put any sort of timeline or expectation on him.
“That’s a wait and see,” Sweeney said of Forbort’s status. “I mean, Derek [Forbort] has made great strides, and little bit surprisingly, to tell you the truth, he was on an operating table not too long ago for two different situations. So, good on him and good on the training staff. We still have an undetermined timeline in terms of how he’s going to continue to progress. 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.”
Reading through the lines there, it sounds as if the deeper the Bruins, the higher the odds that Forbort becomes an option for them on the backend.
Feb 19, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins right wing Justin Brazeau (55) is congratulated at the bench after scoring his first NHL goal during the second period against the Dallas Stars at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)
Up front, the Bruins will indeed begin their postseason without big-bodied winger Justin Brazeau available.
Out of action since suffering an upper-body injury in an Apr. 2 win in Nashville, Brazeau still appears to be in the week-to-week stage of his recovery, according to the Bruins.
“He’s coming back from an injury that… the timeline as we described is week to week,” Sweeney said of Brazeau’s current timeline. “I still think we’re in that week-to-week phase, so the early part of the series is very unlikely.“We’re hopeful, but there’s no guarantees on that one. That one’s going to take some time. He is skating, clearly, but he has some hurdles to get through.”
