Pastrnak ruled 'unfit to participate' with Bruins

David Pastrnak missed his fourth day of practice Monday for the Boston Bruins, after being ruled "unfit to participate" on Saturday.

"It's unfortunate the times that we're in, but I guess it's the new reality for right now anyways," forward Brad Marchand said Saturday. "And teams are just going to have to be willing to be resilient and battle through it."

Pastrnak, who returned to the Czech Republic after the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, missed the first two practices of training camp but made his debut Wednesday. General manager Don Sweeney said Sunday that Pastrnak's return was held up due to quarantine rules for players arriving from Europe.

Goalie Tuukka Rask, defenseman Torey Krug and forwards Charlie Coyle, David Krejci, Sean Kuraly and Nick Ritchiereturned Monday after missing practice Saturday. The Bruins were off Sunday. In addition to Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy, and forwards Chris Wagner and Ondrej Kase were not on the ice Monday. It was the fourth straight day Kase missed practice.

As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

Pastrnak scored 48 goals this season, tying for the NHL lead with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.

The Bruins will play in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city, against the Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers to determine seeding for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boston's first game is against Philadelphia on Aug. 2.

"Am I thinking ahead to being without those guys in the round-robin or playoffs? No. That would be speculating," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Obviously missing two guys that play up in your lineup, and a guy like David that's your League-leading [goal]-scorer, you want him in there, you want him getting back into condition, you want him returning to the ice and being with his teammates. But he's not."