Julien: Sturm 'not even close'

By Danny Picard
CSNNE.com

WILMINGTON -- Claude Julien described it as a "leisurely skate."

Marco Sturm hit the ice Tuesday for the first time since suffering a torn ACL and MCL in Game One of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers in May. He skated prior to the Bruins' practice at Ristuccia Arena, and didn't necessarily disagree with his coach when he briefly spoke to the media before Julien. He even said he's a little behind his original timetable of a late-November return.

But Julien isn't ready to think about Sturm's return just yet, mainly because, as he said after Tuesday's practice, he's not even close to a comeback.

"You guys are quick on the gun here," said Julien when asked what it would be like to get Sturm back and healthy. "He's a long ways away. I can't even think about that right now because he's so far away.

"Let's give him a break here and give him a chance to find his way, because I can't even think about where we're going to put him."

Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was approached about Sturm's recovery process after Tuesday's practice, and Chara was quick to show how pleased he was to see the always-smiling Sturm working hard to get back on the ice.

"It's always nice to see our guys coming back from injuries, that's for sure," said Chara. "Especially a guy like Marco, who unfortunately has been hit by the same injury twice in a row.

"He's handling it really well, and he's working extremely hard. You don't see that very often from guys being hurt, as mentally strong as he is, after they've been going through the same rehab.

"To have a guy like that coming back, and seeing him skating, it's awesome," added Chara. "It's just been a long road for him, and eventually, it's getting shorter and shorter for him. So it's nice."

Also skating before the team's practice on Tuesday was Marc Savard, who Julien said is still making slow, day-to-day improvements. But Julien also made it a point to say that Savard's timetable had everything to do with his health off the ice, and wasn't the same type of recovery as Sturm's.

"This is about taking care of Savy, the person, before taking care of Savy, the player," said Julien. "We did that with Patrice [Bergeron], and it turned out really, really well, because he's healthy today and things have, I guess, turned out in his favor in the long run. So we want to do the same thing here with Savy.

"It's not about pushing him for the sake of a job. It's about making sure you do the right thing for the sake of the kind of life he wants to have from here on in."

With defenseman Johnny Boychuk out with a fractured bone in his left forearm, Andrew Ference was once again paired up with Chara on Tuesday. But after practice, both Chara and Julien talked about the team's ability to mix and match their defenseman, with Boychuk out.

It's something they haven't had an issue yet this season, and will continue to do so until Boychuk gets back.

"Do we have set pairs? No, I don't think so," said Julien. "I think it's more of getting used to playing with each other, and that's probably going to continue. Now we feel that's the best scenario for our D's . . . mixing and matching."

Dennis Wideman may very well be best remembered for being the trading chip that landed 25-year-old sniper Nathan Horton. But forward Brad Marchand is still holding onto a piece of Wideman's presence in Boston.

As Marchand placed his gloves above his locker following Tuesday's practice, it was noticed that stitched into the wrist of his gloves was "Wideman."

The reason?

Marchand was just trying out the style of the glove, which was still hanging around from last season. So fear not, Bruins fans. Horton isn't getting traded back to Florida.

Danny Picard is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DannyPicard