NHL teams
Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Lucic rehabbing from wrist surgery

Boston Bruins

WILMINGTON, Mass. -- Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic spent the majority of the offseason with a cast on his left wrist after having surgery last May.

He told reporters Monday at Ristuccia Arena that he will remain limited for training camp as he continues to regain strength in the wrist, which he injured during Game 1 of the second round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens.

"It's getting better," he said. "Obviously it was a long summer, having to be in a cast for 12 weeks. I feel like I've turned a corner on it the last week, week and a half. Still working hard to get it up to 100 percent. Just excited to be back here with everyone and getting things going. Camp is right around the corner."

Lucic said he will be "cautious" so he doesn't suffer any setbacks, and believes the injury won't affect his play this season.

"Every time you have surgery, it never really goes back to 100 percent," he said. "But you hope that you can get back to a point where you were feeling as good as before the surgery. For myself, just trying to get mentally healthy and get that out of the way, the mental part of it. That part of it is a big part of it to overcome, as far as shooting and just pushing and just all that type of stuff. It's a lot of hard work when you get injured to get to 100 percent, and that's your main goal is to try to get there."

A major topic this offseason was the Bruins' salary-cap constraints. Lucic, 26, has two years remaining on his current contract, and general manager Peter Chiarelli recently said he would like to re-sign Lucic, calling him part of the "backbone" of the franchise. Even though he still has two seasons remaining on his current contract with Boston, Lucic admitted he's already been thinking about his future.

"It's hard not to. I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't think about it at all," he said. "With two years left on this contract and when I come out of it, I come out of it as a UFA. You kind of see the direction that the team is going -- they just signed [David Krejci] for six more years after this one, and obviously he's a guy I want to play with. My plan as far as my future goes is to stay here and stay put in Boston, but obviously a lot of things are going to happen in the next year and two years, but I hope that both sides can keep me here for a long, long time."

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