Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli announced on Tuesday morning during a conference call with the media that Marc Savard has been cleared to play after the B's playmaker met with Mass General Neurologist/Harvard Med School Professor Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann for a series of neuro psych tests.
"First I’d like to announce that Marc Savard has been cleared to play. Late yesterday afternoon he met with Dr. Schmahmann who I classify as an independent neurologist. He examined Marc, he had some further discussions with our doctor, and he has been cleared to play. So I’ll leave it up to Claude as far as putting the lines together and who plays and who doesn’t play, but Marc is ready to go and we’ll see how his conditioning goes. I know from talking to him that he’s very anxious to play."
- Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli
Chiarelli equated the return of Savard for round 2 to a trade deadline deal:
"He’s an elite player and he’s been chomping at the bit to play. They fact that we were able to clinch and give some time for him to get acclimated and practice, I think is going to be beneficial to the team. He’s obviously a terrific offensive player as you’ve seen in his performances in the playoffs. He really works on the two-way side of his game in the playoffs. It’s like a trade deadline acquisition and we’re adding obviously a very good player to our mix for the next series."
PC compared Savvy's road to recovery to what Patrice Bergeron had to face following his concussion:
"When I saw Patrice – this is my layman prognosis here, or analysis – and I saw Patrice after his concussion, and then when I saw Savvy after his, there was a big difference. They were both obviously both severe, but as I saw Savvy recuperate, a lot of things happened more quickly compared to Patrice, but still, there was some doubt at some points in time because he still had that glazed look, but then you know, there’s, these things turn. They don’t recover in the same way as a torn ligament or a separated shoulder. They can turn quickly and that happened with Marc and you could see a real change, so when I saw that, I had a pretty good idea that he’d be back if we can stretch it out."
Chiarelli was asked if he was worried about the Savard-Cooke incident becoming a factor if the Bruins draw the Pittsburgh Penguins in the next round:
"I think if anything it will motivate us, but I think our group is focused right now. I know it will be talked about in the media and certainly it will be one of the major story lines, but I like our focus of our group and I don’t think it will be too much of a distraction."