Given the Boston Bruins situation where they’ve already clinched virtually everything that they can, it can be a little challenging to get a reading on some of their injury situations as they get rest for some of their most veteran players. That’s the case with 36-year-old center David Krejci, who exited B’s practice early on Wednesday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena and is “questionable” for Thursday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.
“I think he still has some discomfort. We’re going to be very precautionary and he’ll be questionable for tomorrow,” said Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery.
There’s no word on the exact origin of Krejci’s lower body discomfort, but it can’t be all that serious if he did make it through some portions of Wednesday’s practice after spending each of the last three days off the ice following the win in Pittsburgh.
Krejci (lower body) had an assist and played 18 plus minutes in Saturday afternoon’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but sat out Sunday’s shootout win against the St. Louis Blues along with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The good news for the Bruins is that they have great alternative depth options even if Krejci can’t suit up, and that Pavel Zacha continues to slide into a top-6 center role that could permanently become his as soon as next season.
Krejci has enjoyed a strong season with the Boston Bruins this year and has 17 goals and 60 points along with a plus-24 rating in 70 games, and has been everything the B’s hoped he would be as a No. 2 center after playing last season in his native Czech Republic. Priority No. 1 for both Krejci and for the Boston Bruins is to make sure he’s as close to 100 percent health as possible entering the playoffs and that certainly plays a role in their thinking if No. 46 sits out later this week against the Maple Leafs.
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