Rumor: David Krejci very close to returning for the Bruins.

The Boston Bruins got a little bit of disappointing, if not at all unexpected, news on Saturday but it is news that comes with a massive silver lining attached to it. 

According to a report from Boston Bruins insider Joe Haggerty, Bruins veteran forward David Krejci will miss his fourth and fifth consecutive game due to injury. Effectively this means that Krejci will be sitting out the entire weekend as a result of the upper body injury that has kept him sidelined over the past several games, although that was to be expected given that the Bruins forward practiced in a no contact jersey on Friday. Normally a no contact jersey is a sign that a player is still relatively far away from making a return to the lineup, but that is where the major silver lining comes in.

Haggerty is also reporting that Krejci was back on the ice on Saturday and this time the Bruins center participated in a full practice with his teammates and had shed the no contact jersey which would appear to indicate that he is now much closer to a return. In fact Haggerty had a chance to catch up to Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on Saturday and although Cassidy did confirm that Krejci would miss the two games over the weekend, he also indicated that he expects Krejci to return to the lineup very soon.

“Krejci is out and he won’t travel. Tuesday [against the San Jose Sharks] is looking good for him, but we’ll have a better idea on Monday. But right now he’s on track [for next week],” said Bruce Cassidy as per NBC Sports. “I still think he’s going to be a little behind. How much is to be determined, but I think that’s just the way it works when you miss almost a month now. He’s played games where he’s been in and out, but he hasn’t really strung anything together since training camp. Hopefully, it’s not a long process.”

The 33 year old had appeared in 5 games for the Bruins this season prior to suffering his upper body injury and he has recorded just a single assist on the season with no goals, boasting a plus minus rating of 0 thus far in the 2019 - 2020 NHL regular season.