Look who’s back at practice for the Bruins!

If you need a nice boost on this Friday, here you go:

Why yes, that IS Ondrej Kase joining the Bruins at practice in a regular-colored jersey.

It’s been quite a long road for Kase, who has kind of been a mysterious figure for much of this season.

He was rarely at practice, the team rarely gave updates on his condition, and now...here he is!

There were reports that Kase had started skating before practice in recent weeks, and it’s safe to assume he’s been working out on his own for a little while.

But to see him just walk out of the locker room and jump on the ice is a pretty wild sight (in a good way).

Kase, you’ll remember, hasn’t played since the second game of the regular season, way back on January 16.

In that game, he had a collision with Miles Wood and left the game; while Wood is a big guy, the collision wasn’t exactly one that you’d see and think “uh oh.”

Still, for a guy with concussion problems, it was a worrying sight.

One thing I noticed in the video clip above: Kase appears to be wearing a tinted visor on his helmet, something he wasn’t wearing in the photo that accompanies this post (which is from the beginning of this season).

Players often wear tinted visors to help with headaches and/or light sensitivity following concussions, so that’s a pretty good indicator of what has kept Kase on the sidelines for so long.

Kase has skated in just eight regular season games since the Bruins acquired him at the deadline in 2020; he also played in 11 bubble games.

We’ll likely get some kind of update from Bruce Cassidy today on what Kase’s return to practice means (i.e. is he just getting some work in, or are they hoping he can return to game action this season), but for now, it’s pretty cool.

The fun part, if he’s going to play: where does he fit in the lineup?