David Krejci, Torey Krug on target for Bruins opener

BOSTON --Boston Bruins center David Krejci and defenseman Torey Krug, each recovering from offseason surgery, will be able to participate in on-ice drills when training camp begins Friday but will steer clear of most contact.
Each is confident he will be ready to play when the Bruins open the regular season at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 13.

"Both are fully good to go to be integrated into practice, doing drills," Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said after the Bruins took conditioning tests at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday. "We'll call it a modified contact situation that we can control before they get fully ramped up, and then we'll just monitor their progress and how they're feeling throughout."
Krejci, 30, had hip surgery April 25 and the prognosis was for him to be recovered in five months. He has been skating for more than a month, including during informal practices.
"I'm feeling pretty good," Krejci said. "I'm kind of taking it day by day, but I've been doing some more stuff this week and it feels pretty good. Cleared for [Friday] obviously, the first day of training camp with the other guys, so it's going to be a little more intense. So I guess that's going to tell me a lot [about] where I am."

Krejci, who had 63 points (17 goals, 46 assists) in 72 games last season, decided to not participate for Team Czech Republic in the World Cup of Hockey 2016 because he wasn't game-ready. Instead, he continued to focus on getting prepared for the NHL season.
"I don't really think I was rushing it," he said. "It was just more that we kind of came up with that it's probably going to be best for my career to not go [to the World Cup]. And so we kind of slowed the process a little bit. It wasn't fun, it wasn't an easy decision, it was actually really tough. But here we are, and I feel really close to 100 percent."
Krejci said he hopes to play in preseason games and is confident he'll play in the season-opener.
Krug, 25, had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder April 21. The prognosis was for him to be fully recovered in six months. Although his injury requires more recovery time than Krejci's, Krug also said he believes he'll be able to play opening night.
"Absolutely," Krug said. "I've been working for a long time now and making sure that's been possible the whole time. I've been in good hands, so the opener seems like a realistic goal. But you never know what's going to happen and we'll see."
Krug had 44 points (four goals, 40 assists) in 81 games last season.