David Pastrnak got back on the ice on Monday for his first practice of Bruins training camp. The star forward had participated in the team’s captains practices earlier this month, but missed all of last week's practice sessions and the team’s first preseason game in an effort to manage his knee tendinitis.
After Pastrnak’s first practice under new Boston head coach Marco Sturm, he shared that his tendinitis has actually been a lingering issue that he’s dealt with for more than a year.
“I played with that the whole year last year,” Pastrnak said. “I wouldn't be too worried about it. Obviously I spent a lot of time in the summer to make it better, and it did get much better than it was last year.”
“It’s nothing too concerning. It's just something that's been nagging me for a very long time,” he added.
As for this season, Pastrnak thinks he may be able to limit or get rid of his lingering tendinitis thanks to some tweaks he made to his offseason – for example, spending more time on a bike and less time running.
“I don’t know. I dealt with it all year last year and I spent a lot of time in the summer getting better and it got better. I guess that’s just something that time will tell,” Pastrnak said.
With Pastrnak skating on his own rather than being in practices all of last week, he missed the first few days of learning Sturm’s new systems and will now start getting up to speed.
“It’s day one for me back,” Pastrnak said. “It's nice to be around the guys and kind of get the atmosphere feeling and see what’s the mood and stuff after a couple of days. I watched a couple of scrimmages. Compete is here. I love to see that guys are really hungry and excited. So far, I think with all the new systems coming, it's gonna take time, but what we can do as players is to focus on the meetings and go out there and compete.”