What’s Bruin With the Injured David Krejci

Lately, the Boston Bruins have looked really good. They’ve won nine of their last 13 games, Tuukka Rask is playing much better, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are scoring machines and Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy are absolute studs on the ice.

I’ll admit, I hit the panic button far too early in the season after the Bruins looked lost and sluggish on the ice – but their recent turnaround definitely has me excited to watch this team day in and day out.

However, despite their success, they still need to figure something out: how the hell do they keep David Krejci healthy?

His most recent injury is definitely a head-scratcher because he was a full participant in Monday’s morning skate and spoke to reporters afterwards as he always does. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

So between the morning hours and pre-game warmups, something happened where Krejci didn’t feel well enough to play and the team is calling it an upper-body injury.

The good news? It’s not his hip. The bad news? It’s a mystery injury that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Krejci has played in 18 games this season tallying five goals and nine assists good for 14 points with six of those points coming on the power play. It’s clear when Krejci is on the ice, he’s productive – but the last few seasons he has been nothing but injury-prone.

He’s missed 11 games this season and the Bruins have struggled without him – going 3-4-4 during his absence.

Every season, I see fans calling for Krejci to be traded because he’s so delicate. I’ll never understand that logic: what team would want a player who is constantly injured and what in the world would the Bruins get in return for him?

But that’s another topic for another day.

The point is Krejci needs to find a way to stay healthy. He’s a veteran on this team and someone who has taken the rookies under his wing. He’s skated a lot with DeBrusk and Anders Bjork and Bruce Cassidy has praised Krejci, saying he has patience with the rookies.

Krejci, when healthy, hell even when he’s 80 percent healthy, is good on the ice. He plays hard, gets the assists and even finds the back of the net.

He knows this team and their system and he knows what it takes to be on this roster and what the coaches look for in their players. The rookies and newcomers to the team look to people like Krejci because of how he plays the game.

Unfortunately, he never seems to be able to make it through a full season without some sort of injury. I’m no doctor and I can’t sit here and evaluate what Krejci should do in order to not get injured.

Obviously, hockey is a physical sport and injuries happen – but Krejci is so damn fragile that every time he even takes the slightest hit I panic and think he’s just going to shatter like glass. I don’t want his ice time to be limited because he clearly performs well – it’s just a matter of him not getting hurt.

I’m a huge Krejci person – I have always loved watching him play and how he performs on the ice. Just a few seasons ago he was an assist machine and looked as if he couldn’t be stopped… but that’s because he was healthy.

He’s battled plenty of injuries over the last few seasons, including a significant hip injury that he’s had surgery on. Many people have questioned whether he’d be 100 percent recovered and he’d be back to the old Krejci or if it would just be another thing to worry about during games.

Say what you want about his fragility and delicacy, I know I do. But this team needs Krejci whether he’s at 100 percent or 80 percent – his presence on the ice is missed.

Written by: Lauren Campbell (@lalalalaurrrren)