Don Sweeney Gives Final Injury Update For Bruins

The Boston Bruins, like almost every team to reach the Stanley Cup Final, dealt with a plethora of injuries over the course of the last few months. GM Don Sweeney, along with head coach Bruce Cassidy, met the media on Monday as part of the club’s end of season media availability. Sweeney updated the status of multiple Bruins who battled through injuries in April, May and June.

The topic was brought up when the GM was asked about the health and recovery of Captain Zdeno Chara and forward Anders Bjork.

“Anders is doing really well from a recovery standpoint, had his shoulder, the same shoulder, done again, but has taken the necessary time. Saw him a couple of weeks ago, he’ll be a full bore” Sweeney said of Bjork who hasn’t played an NHL game since November 26th.

“Zdeno is having a small procedure done in his elbow to take out some loose fragments and such, so he’s going to have that done this week and move forward and allow that to recover along with the obvious one in his jaw,” Sweeney said of his he 42-year-old rearguard.

Chara suffered multiple fractures in his jaw in the second period of Game 4 against the Blues. He didn’t miss a game.

Outside of the obvious two in Chara and Bjork, Sweeney had other updates to give as well.

“There’s a couple of guys that are still having some secondary tests being done,” Sweeney said. “Noel Acciari with his heel, [David] Backes has got something he’s following up on.”

“Moore obviously has to have surgery. Kevan Miller already had his. Nordstrom had broken his foot,” Sweeney added. “He had a small fracture in his navicular, so he has to let that heal. He’ll be perfectly fine without surgery. Bergy, you know, was playing with a groin. He doesn’t need surgery. He’ll be fine.”

Sweeney had one final update, this one on Chris Wagner. The Walpole native suffered an injury in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final against the Carolina Hurricanes. “Wagner’s on the road to recovery. He was actually eligible to play, which is pretty remarkable in itself, as well, but he’ll take time to make sure he’s 100%.”

Following the presser with the GM and coach, Wagner met with the media and said he broke his right ulna bone.

The Bruins dealt with a laundry list of injuries that impacted their play in the Final. There are no excuses, however, and Sweeney acknowledged that.

“Every team at that stage is dealing with injuries. We come out of a 10-day break, and you’d think we’d be 100% healthy, and we weren’t,” he said.

Sweeney praised the courage of his team, led by Chara.

“You go through 100 and some odd games and push yourself to the limits or beyond the limits in certain cases, certainly in Zdeno’s case, but for a lot of guys not just Zdeno,” he said of the captain. “It’s going to have a residual effect, so it’s a testament to the courage of each and every one of them.”

With a full summer to heal, Don Sweeney and his staff are hopeful that the injuries that plagued them in the playoffs won’t be a factor when the puck drops in early October.