Bruins David Pastrnak Absent From Full-Squad Workout

David Pastrnak was scheduled to meet with members of the media via a Zoom call Thursday after morning skate, however, shortly before 11 am it was revealed that Pasta’s availability had been removed from the schedule. It was also revealed that he would not be skating at all. Pastrnak was completely absent from practice, which raised some eyebrows among reporters and fans, after his first day back at practice yesterday.

Head coach of the Bruins, Bruce Cassidy, gave an update after team practice. Due to new privacy rules, he was more vague than usual. He declared that David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase were both deemed unfit to play. The team had previously expected that both players would be on the ice ready for practice. Cassidy said that the team will forge ahead to be prepared for the potential of playing without them.

The coach also made a point to mention that he didn’t think this would be a long term absence for either player saying, “Am I thinking ahead to being without those guys in the round robin or playoffs? No.” This statement comes as a relief. Hopefully, the two players were held out of practice for conditioning purposes.

This morning was also met with a little bit of goaltender uncertainty. Tuukka Rask left morning skate early after being seen during the opening minutes of the full-squad practice. Cassidy also gave an update on the netminder in his post-practice presser. He said that Rask took a shot the other day in the wrong spot. He thinks maybe it was “acting up” this morning. Cassidy also said that it was a good thing that medical trainers didn’t come to him right away so it’s not believed to be anything serious or long term.

-Jess Donahue (@jldx392)