Bruins: Bruce Cassidy provides update on Nick Foligno

Nick Foligno hasn’t played with the Boston Bruins since their second game of the season. The veteran winger is currently on injured reserved with an upper-body injury.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy recently spoke with reporters about Foligno’s health. He stated Foligno has started skating on his own, but has not participated in a team practice yet. With this, he also noted that he’s still deemed as being week-to-week.

This update can honestly be viewed as both positive and negative. It’s fantastic to hear that Foligno is once again skating. It’s a step in the right direction and will also help him stay in shape as best as his injury permits him to. However, the fact that he is still week-to-week definitely is not the greatest of news.

Since Foligno has been out of the lineup, the Bruins have had a few different faces take over his third line right wing role. We’ve seen Karson Kuhlman and Curtis Lazar in the spot, for example. Although they certainly did what was asked of them, Foligno’s absence is definitely not doing the Bruins any favors.

The Bruins revamped their third line for this season in hopes of it leading to more production. Yet, the DeBrusk-Haula-Foligno trio has sadly not been able to form much-needed chemistry during the regular season. They had a very solid preseason with one another, so it’s apparent that fans certainly want to see this now with the games holding more value. Therefore, it is disappointing that it’s going to be a bit longer before they will all be playing together again.

Since Foligno has been hurt, his two linemates have been quiet on the scoresheet. In a total of seven games, Haula has just one assist (from the season opener) and DeBrusk has two goals. Now, that’s not to say that they haven’t had their chances, but it will be interesting to see how they perform when they have Foligno back on their line.

Alas, it will be great once the candy corn loving veteran is back on the ice with the B’s. Until then, he will continue to build connections with his new teammates off the ice.