Backes' Return Could Come on Saturday

BOSTON - David Backes is ready to get back into game action. After two weeks on the shelf with an upper-body injury, it's likely that the veteran forward will return to the lineup on Saturday night in Nashville.
"It appears that way," coach Bruce Cassidy said after practice on Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena. "Talked to him today, felt really good, so barring anything out of the ordinary, he should be good."

Backes has not played since taking a high hit from Edmonton defenseman Matt Benning during the Bruins' 3-2 overtime loss to the Oilers on Oct. 18. Having been sidelined for a relatively short period of time, Backes does not expect to have to ease back into his regular minutes.
"The way the strength and conditioning guys have been here, and skating while the team's been on the road and in practice, there shouldn't any issues with minutes played," said Backes. "Hopefully I'm up to speed and reacting well and earn a few more [minutes] and he can use me as a fresh body to maybe empty the tank a little bit."

Cassidy said the team has missed Backes' veteran presence and leadership during his abbreviated five-game absence.
"I think he's good with the younger guys," said Cassidy. "Certainly when he plays with them, he'll pull them aside or walk through situational details. I'm not privy to every one of those conversations, but I just like the fact that he is trying to bring them under his wing. He's been a captain in the past. He's pretty vocal on the bench which helps some nights."
Backes has also proven to be a versatile option for Cassidy so far this season, shifting to the third-line center role before his injury, as well as taking on more responsibility on the penalty kill.
That adaptability will benefit the Bruins should Backes have to shift back to the wing upon his return. With Backes out, Joakim Nordstrom took over as the third-line center and has performed well in that role.
"I think it's gonna be a cool look if that's what Butchy decides, with [Nordstrom's] wheels and ability, having a winger that can maybe put some pucks in my corner and I can go dig it out for him," said Backes, who practiced with Nordstrom, Anders Bjork, and Ryan Donato on Thursday. "Him being a lefty and me being a righty, we can split face-offs and we do have a similar mindsets on how the game needs to be played with some brief time together in the preseason. Really liked how we worked together."

Injury Updates

Your full daily Bruins injury rundown, per Cassidy:
Matt Grzelcyk (lower body, skated with Kevan Miller before practice): "Grizz skated. Better, but without being at a team practice I'd list him as questionable for Saturday - could play I guess. Let's see if he joins us tomorrow."
Charlie McAvoy (upper body, did not skate on Thursday): "It's stretched out a little now, so I didn't know [what it was] when it first happened. We had no idea. I think we relayed that, and we still don't to a certain extent. So yeah, there's a bit of concern. I mean he's a 20-year-old. You want him to be healthy and in the lineup… because he's one of our top defensemen, but for his own well-being at that age.
"I'm sure all he wants to do is get up and go to the rink every day, so hopefully whatever it is turns a corner sooner rather than later for his sake and ours."
Urho Vaakanainen (concussion, did not skate on Thursday): "Urho wasn't on the ice today. [Him and Charlie] were both in here, but they didn't go on the ice. They're in the gym. I saw them in there."

Turning the Page

The 2018-19 season is already a month old, and with October now in the books, Cassidy gave an assessment on his group after a solid 7-3-2 start.
"The record is good," said Cassidy. "It's funny because we were talking about that this morning. We're sitting there thinking we can be better in a lot of areas, yet our record is pretty solid considering three of our top six D, probably, were out for stretches - Kevan, Torey, now Charlie, Grizz…it's a lot of guys that play minutes.
"Tuukka [Rask] wasn't on his game, but we got [Jaroslav] Halak to come in. We're still searching for certain pieces in our lineup, the third-line center and some secondary scoring, yet the record reflects that we're doing enough to win hockey games now.
"So, going forward I'd like to think if we straighten away some of those issues that we'll be even better. I guess the overall assessment on paper is very good, but the product we know that we can improve, and we're trying to identify areas."

Thursday's Practice Lineup

Despite switching things up during Tuesday night's win over Carolina, Cassidy said he isn't making a permanent change to his top line.
"They're going to be a line, yes," said Cassidy.
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen - David Krejci - Jake DeBrusk
Anders Bjork/Ryan Donato - Joakim Nordstrom - David Backes
Chris Wagner - Sean Kuraly - Noel Acciari
Zdeno Chara - Brandon Carlo
Torey Krug - John Moore
Jeremy Lauzon - Steven Kampfer
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak