Ondrej Kase’s time with the Bruins has not gone at all like anyone would have hoped, but there was finally some good news Friday as Kase joined his teammates for practice for the first time in nearly four months.
Kase, who started the season as the Bruins’ second-line right wing, suffered a head injury in the second game of the season back on Jan. 16 and has not played or practiced since.
He had been skating on his own for a few weeks now, but Friday marked the first time he was able to get on the ice with the full team. Notably, he did so in a regular black practice jersey and not a red no-contact jersey.
Coach Bruce Cassidy said after practice that Kase won’t play Saturday against the Rangers, but that he could play Monday against the Islanders or Tuesday against the Capitals depending on how he feels and how he recovers from taking some contact for the first time.
“There’s a chance,” Cassidy said. “Once he’s in contact… this was some of his first real -- it wasn’t a full-blown middle-of-the-year practice, but there was some jostling out there, some battling. So let’s see how he feels tomorrow. He won’t go in tomorrow, but if there’s no ill effects tomorrow, that really ups his chances for Monday or Tuesday.
“That’ll depend on where we are, what’s the best fit for us, and then is he ready and what’s best for him as well. So we’ll try to merge those two, but yeah, I’ve always said if he’s in a normal color jersey in practice and going through what everyone else is going through, then that’s probably the last hurdle typically for guys to get in the lineup.”
The head injury has been the latest and most concerning setback since the Bruins acquired Kase from the Anaheim Ducks at the 2020 trade deadline in exchange for a first-round pick in a deal that also saw the Bruins unload David Backes and his contract.
Kase played just six games with Boston before last season got put on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then he missed all of the Bruins’ two-week return-to-play camp before the playoffs for COVID-related reasons and found himself playing catch-up at a time when the Bruins really needed him to already be caught up.
This season offered a fresh start, but that fresh start lasted just four periods before he got hit up high by Devils forward Miles Wood.
The Bruins long ago had to abandon any plans that counted on Kase being a key piece of this team come playoffs. It’s hard to expect too much at this point, and fortunately the Bruins have improved enough offensively -- thanks in large part to this year’s deadline acquisitions (Taylor Hall, Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar) -- that they don’t really need anything from Kase.
But even if Kase doesn’t get into any games this season, it’s still great to see him practicing. It was obviously a serious head injury and a long road back, and that’s always scary. Just seeing him on the ice was a pick-me-up for the team, as evidenced by his teammates having him lead Friday’s post-practice stretch.
If Kase does get into games and ends up contributing this postseason, it would be a bonus, and potentially a fairly significant one.