Lucic Suffers Setback With Injured Ankle

Boston Bruins winger Milan Lucic has suffered a setback rehabbing his injured ankle and will not return to the lineup as soon as originally expected.

“Looch is not going as quick as we expected, so he’s maybe a week behind where we expected, but it’s not dramatic,” Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said after practice on Monday.

Milan Lucic has not played since Oct. 21, when the Bruins beat the Kings 4-2 in Los Angeles. Late in that game, Lucic took a Derek Forbort slapshot off his ankle area. The next day, the Bruins were in Anaheim to play the Ducks, and Lucic took one whirl in warmups and did not return to play in the Bruins’ 3-1 win over the Ducks. The 6-foot-3, 236-pound winger was placed on long-term injury reserve on Oct. 27 and is eligible to come off LTIR on Saturday when the Bruins host the Montreal Canadiens, but that seems unlikely to happen at this point.

Lucic has two assists in four games with the Bruins this season after signing back with the team that drafted him and the city that embraced him as a ‘Big Bad Bruin’ legend from the 2007-08 to 2014-15 seasons. Lucic also won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2010-11, which was also his best season statistically, as he scored 30 goals and had 32 assists.

The Boston Bruins are also still missing forward Morgan Geekie and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, both of whom are on injured reserve (Grzelcyk is on long-term), with shoulder injuries.

Here’s what the lineup looked like at practice on Monday:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic

Danton Heinen-Matt Poitras-Jake DeBrusk

Jakub Lauko-John Beecher-Oskar Steen

Defensemen

Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort-Ian Mitchell

Goalies

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman