Bruins general manager Don Sweeney met with the media via Zoom on Monday after Boston knocked off the Capitals and provided some updates on several injured Bruins.
Defenseman Kevan Miller missed Game 5 after taking a high hit from Dmitry Orlov in Game 4 and then hitting his head on the ice on his way down. He spent a night in the hospital for scans and evaluation and is now back home.
Sweeney said the team should get a better idea on his availability as the week goes on. With the Bruins’ second-round series against either the Penguins or Islanders unlikely to begin before the weekend, they have some time before their next game.
“Latest update: Doing OK,” Sweeney said of Miller. “Still early in the recovery phase. We’ll probably know as the week goes along how he progresses. He’s obviously back home. He was in today in the facility to check in, but it’s still early in the process.”
While the Bruins came out of the first round in good shape up front, Miller is not their only injury on defense right now. Jeremy Lauzon went down in Game 1 of the series after taking a shot off the hand and did not play again, while Jakub Zboril was injured in the final game of the regular season and was unavailable for the first round.
Sweeney sounded a bit optimistic about both going forward, though.
“Our hope is that they’ll both be available for the next series,” Sweeney said of Lauzon and Zboril. “Again, we’ll probably have a better understanding Wednesday how they continue to progress. Until they’re into practice with the main group, we won’t really know. Hopefully we have a little extra time and they come along in the healing process, and then obviously getting back up to full speed to become fully available for us.”
One defenseman who will not be available for the remainder of the playoffs is Steven Kampfer. The veteran played in the final game of the regular season, but has since decided to undergo surgery for a hand injury that will end his 2021 season.
“Recently he elected to have a hand surgery, so he’s in the recovery phase and unavailable for us,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney also revealed that forward Ondrej Kase has been shut down. After suffering a concussion in the second game of the season, Kase returned for the second-to-last game of the regular season, but only lasted two periods before being pulled from the game and ruled out.
“Ondrej shut it down as well, and will not be part of the availability for us going forward in the playoffs,” Sweeney said.
Related
