BOLTON, Mass – At the very least, the Bruins are going to be down at least one regular player when the season gets going next month.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed on Monday at the Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament at the International that D-man John Moore won’t be ready to start training camp after shoulder surgery this summer.
The 28-year-old Moore made it all the way through the Stanley Cup Final with a banged up body and then succumbed to shoulder surgery on June 26 that’s estimated to sideline him for 4-6 months. The earlier end of that timeline would leave Moore out for pretty much all of the preseason, and leave him out to start the regular season as well.
Moore is hopeful that he’ll be back sooner than later, but it will well ahead of schedule if he’s available to play much before the beginning of November.
“I feel good. It’s been kind of a process getting back and doing rehab. I’ve been here all summer just grinding away,” said Moore. “This surgery really kicked my ass, but every day I’m just trying to take little steps and make little improvements.
“I definitely won’t be ready to go off the start, but I hope I’ll be ready to go shortly thereafter. You base it off what the surgeon says. There are guidelines and I’m optimistic I’ve been hitting all of them that it will be sooner [for a return] than later. Initially when we started the process 4-6 months was the window and I’m hoping it will be more toward the fourth months.”
Boston Bruins
Moore finished with four goals and 13 points in 61 games this past season, his first as a member of the Bruins, and is among a number of Bruins defensemen that might not be ready to start the regular season for a number of reasons. Kevan Miller (fractured kneecap) may be out to start training camp as well and both Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo remain unsigned with NHL training camp set to begin on Thursday morning.
While Moore’s absence will be among a number of factors testing Boston’s depth on the back end, it also opens up some salary cap flexibility to start the season as he will most assuredly begin the season on long term injured reserve. This means the B’s will be able to use his $2.75 million in cap space while attempting to resign McAvoy and Carlo ahead of October’s start to the regular season, and put off any cap moves until well into the regular season.
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