With several key injuries already, the Bruins aren’t the healthiest team heading into the regular season. However, there is good news on one of those fronts as Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic relays that defenseman Matt Grzelcyk will not begin the year on LTIR. He underwent shoulder surgery in early June that was supposed to carry a minimum recovery time of five months. With the minimum LTIR placement time only being 21 days, the expectation was that he’d be a safe bet to go on there to give Boston a little bit of short-term wiggle room on the cap. The fact that he isn’t going there suggests that Grzelcyk will be ready ahead of schedule. The 28-year-old is coming off a career year offensively with 24 points in 73 games and certainly will be a welcome addition when he’s cleared to play.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- Red Wings defenseman Jake Walman skated Monday at practice and told reporters, including MLive’s Ansar Khan that he is ahead of schedule as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery and expects to be back before the original return date of mid-November. The 26-year-old was acquired from St. Louis just before the trade deadline last season and saw his ice time increase considerably from just under 12 minutes a night with the Blues to over 17 minutes per contest with Detroit.
- Islanders winger Oliver Wahlstrom missed the last three preseason games due to an upper-body issue, notes Kevin Kurz of The Athletic. Despite that, it appears as if he’ll be available to suit up in Thursday’s opener. Wahlstrom’s sophomore year was an underwhelming one as he managed just 13 goals and 11 assists in 73 games last season and he’ll certainly be looking for a stronger showing heading into a contract year.
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