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Kalman: Bruins Will Need Goals From Lucic, But Winger's Goal Right Now Is Health

WILMINGTON (CBS) -- Any longtime teammates of Bruins forward Milan Lucic that want to take some liberties with him, the opportunity to get him when he's not 100 percent healthy should come in the week ahead when training camp begins.

Lucic admitted Monday that he's still rehabilitating his surgically repaired left wrist, which was injured in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference second round against the Montreal Canadiens. Twelve weeks in a cast meant a major lack of upper-body exercise for the bear-sized left winger.

Lucic addressed the matter after an informal practice at Ristuccia Arena.

"A lot," Lucic responded when asked about the injury hindering his offseason workouts. "A lot as far as upper body goes. It impacted it everywhere. I haven't been able to do a pushup until a week ago just because of it being right there on the joint. But still that's something you've got work at with rehab and stuff like that. Like I said, it's gotten better over the last week. And you still have some time here before the season starts. So as camp goes along, you know you want to get your legs and everything underneath you. But you still have time to build your strength up until the season starts."

Lucic said he'll take things slow when camp opens with off-ice testing Thursday and on-ice practice Friday. He didn't say this, but that probably means skipping the Black and Gold scrimmage in Providence on Sunday. He'd also probably be wise to skip a few early preseason games, including the Sept. 23 road tilt against the Canadiens.

If ever there was a season the Bruins could ill afford a slow start by Lucic, or any of their best offensive performers, it's this one. As the roster stands now, no one has been brought in to replace the 30 goals Jarome Iginla scored last season before he departed for the Colorado Avalanche as an unrestricted free agent in July. And Reilly Smith, who surprisingly produced 20 goals last season, was still an unsigned entry-level free agent as of Monday evening. Even on the back end, where the Bruins have gotten more offense the past couple seasons, Torey Krug is in the same boat as Smith after producing 14 goals in 2013-14.

It should be noted Smith and Krug were the only Bruins veterans absent from every informal practice. It would be unfair to vilify them for their absence, but it should be noted that Brad Marchand practiced with his team before training camp without a contract when he was a restricted free agent in 2011.

The past three full NHL seasons have featured Lucic go from 30 to 26 to 24 goals. That number has to turn around barring an unexpected emergence of a prospect as the Bruins' new sniper or an astronomical improvement from a fellow veteran. At the same time, Lucic is going to have to break in a new linemate, with Iginla gone, and continue to be a steamroller on the forecheck. He might also have to take a few extra bouts now that Shawn Thornton is also gone.

Time will tell if Lucic can continue to emerge as a building-block player for the Bruins. Right now, he's just worried about getting to be his old self.

"I hope so. I mean every time you have surgery, it never really goes back to 100 percent. But you hope you can get back to a point where you're feeling as good as before the surgery," he said. "For myself, just trying to get mentally healthy and get that out of the way, the mental part of it. You know that part of it is also a big part to overcome, as far as shooting and just pushing and all that type of stuff. ... So it's a lot of hard work when you get injured to rehab yourself to get to 100 percent. And that's your main goal is to try to get there."

The Bruins will need Lucic at 100 percent of health with about a 25 percent increase in his production for things to work out for the best in 2014-15.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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