Recapping the first day of Bruins training camp

Well folks, the first day of training camp is in the books! Believe it or not, it seems like things...actually went pretty well?

Let’s take a look!

A few faces missing

While the majority of the Bruins were present, there were a few guys missing.

Ondrej Kase and David Pastrnak were both missing, and it’s reportedly so they can finish their respective quarantines.

Per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, Trent Frederic, Anton Blidh, Dan Vladar, and Urho Vaakanainen were also among the missing.

It’s unclear if their absences were travel/quarantine related, but it’s probably safe to assume at this point.

Some wild lines

Given the extra players in the mix, the line combinations were always going to look a little different. With guys like Pastrnak and Kase missing, they definitely weren’t looking quite Game 1-ready.

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Karson Kuhlman

Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Anders Bjork

Nick Ritchie - Charlie Coyle - Sean Kuraly

Joakim Nordstrom - Par Lindholm - Chris Wagner

Paul Carey - Jack Studnicka - Zach Senyshyn

Zdeno Chara - Charlie McAvoy

Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo

Matt Grzelcyk - Jeremy Lauzon

John Moore - Connor Clifton

Jakub Zboril

Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, and Max Lagace all spent time in net.

While it’s fair to assume things will get shuffled a bit, that Matt Grzelcyk - Jeremy Lauzon pair could be a ton of fun to watch.

Also, poor Jakub Zboril, playing on a defense pair by himself. SOMEONE HELP HIM.

A sense of normalcy

One of the weirder parts of all of this (given the whole, you know, “situation”) is that it all seemed pretty normal.

In his remarks to the media, Torey Krug mentioned that he had talked with a few guys in the locker room about how normal things felt, and how good they all felt (in terms of not being too rusty).

I’m sure for players, who are big time creatures of habit, getting back in the rink and back to the “grind” of practice felt great.

I think it’s safe to say these guys looked pretty happy:

High praise for Bjork

While he certainly hasn’t been bad, Bjork has, at times, failed to meet lofty expectations.

He did have 19 points in 58 games this season, but perhaps due to the hype train, it seems like many people expect him to be further along at this point.

It’s a good sign, then, when Bruce Cassidy says something like this:

As Cassidy implied, let’s not get carried away. Still, it’s a good sign. If Bjork can up his game, he’ll give the Bruins some more versatility in their forward groups, and will give his coach more options.

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That’s about it! Echoing what the players said, it’s good to be back.