Big update on injured Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron.

In spite of the fact that the Boston Bruins fan base has a tremendous amount of love for veteran forward Patrice Bergeron you could hardly blame those sames fans for their growing frustration regarding Bergeron's seemingly endless string of injuries. Bergeron has missed significant time in training camp in each of the past two seasons and this time around is no different, this time it's been a nagging groin injury as well as back spasms that have resulted in him being limited throughout the preseason thus far.

The good news for the Bruins is that Bergeron now appears to be well on his way to making a full recovery and earlier this week Bergeron took his first big step towards returning to action when he stepped out onto the ice at Warrior Ice Arena. Bergeron was only skating on his own at the time but it was at least a good sign of the progress he has been making in his recovery and the man himself seemed to be relieved to be back at practice and skating ahead of the 2018 - 2019 National Hockey League regular season.

“It feels great to be back on the ice,” Bergeron said as per the Boston Herald. “Just slowly ramping it up. It’s always good to be on the ice for sure.”

“It was my first real practice that I actually increased the tempo,” he said. “I went two days ago, but this was my first real practice.”

While that is good news the fact that he continues to skate entirely on his own appeared to be an indication that he still remained a little ways away from being able to return to the ice. That being said though he may be closer to returning that we expected as Sunday morning came with some more good news for the Bruins' fan base. 

According to a report from Boston Bruins' insider Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports, Bergeron was spotted on the ice once again this morning although this time around he was joined on the ice by Bruins skating and skills guru Kim Branvold. Unfortunately we don't have any details to share in regards to what he and Branvold were working on specifically but this has to be viewed as a big positive for Bergeron's progress.

It's still unclear how far away this puts him from being able to return to action with his fellow Bruins' teammates but Haggerty believes that this is a sign that Bergeron is pushing closer to exactly that. That being said though Haggerty did not speculate on when we could see Bergeron make a return to the ice, although Bergeron himself has gone on record stating he hopes to get some preseason work under his belt. How realistic that is remains to be seen however.

The 33 year old center is not just a a highly respected veteran but he is also an integral part of the Bruins game plan and is still widely considered to be one of the greatest two way players currently active in the NHL in spite of his advanced age by hockey standards. The sooner he returns the better it will be for the Bruins both in the short and long term.

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