Krejci says return for Leafs game a possibility

Share

BOSTON -- David Krejci said he recently stumbled upon some stats proving his durability over the last three seasons, but doesnt want his willingness to play through pain clouding his judgment when it comes to Thursday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I just saw some interesting stats yesterday: In my last 290 games with the Bruins Ive missed only 10, said Krejci. Thats about 3 percent that Ive missed, so its pretty good. But I shouldnt really be looking at that. I have to be 100 percent and if I come back early theres a really good chance I could do something again.

The 25-year-old center has missed three games with a core injury, and should be able to return within the next couple of home games for the Bs against the Leafs or Saturday night against the San Jose Sharks. Krejci first suffered the injury in a practice last Tuesday, but intimated that hes a 5050 proposition for the Leafs game while being cautious about the upper body issue.

Certainly Krejci must want to suit up against good buddy Phil Kessel amid his torrid Toronto scoring spree, but he wasnt about to take any unnecessary risks just six games into a new hockey season.

Yesterday I skated with some of the guys. Today was a little more like a real practice and I pushed it a little harder, said Krejci. I cant say that I pushed it 100 percent, but I was pretty close. I felt good about the way things went this morning.

Ill wake up tomorrow and if I feel good then Ill push it to 100 percent tomorrow. Ill see how it feels and then who knows? Maybe Ill play tomorrow. Its just like every other injury. Youve got to wait until youre 100 percent especially with this kind of injury. I cant come back when Im 95 percent.

The playmaking center shared shifts with Rich Peverley as the third line center during line drills skating between Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Caron, and coach Claude Julien said itll be up to the player to determine when hes fully ready to jump back into the flow. The situation becomes all the more interesting since the lines have been shifted around, and Krejci could potentially find himself in the middle of Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin if hes bumped back to a No. 1 line white practice jersey.

Hes at a stage where hes practicing and were trying to find out every day how much better hes getting, said Julien. Well see how he feels tomorrow, but hes coming around pretty well.

Krejci will be hoping to hit the ground running when he returns after putting up a single point and a minus-2 in his first three games of the season before getting hurt.

Contact Us