WILMINGTON, Mass. -- Bruins forward Chris Kelly made it through the first day of training camp feeling like his old self. Kelly had offseason back surgery to repair a herniated disk and has no restrictions during camp and the preseason exhibition schedule.

“The back felt great, actually, no issues,” Kelly said. “It’s felt good for a while now. It’s gotten to the point where you’re never going to think about it and that’s a good sign because that’s where you want to be.”

Kelly suffered the injury on April 8 and missed the final four games of the regular season. He attempted to come back for the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the pain was too much to handle and he had the procedure in May.

“You appreciate just being able to play hockey,” Kelly said. “Hockey was the last thing from my mind, but I wanted to be a normal person where you can get up, eat, sleep. For a while there, I couldn’t do those things. So, now it’s just about being a hockey player, which is great.”

Camp is split into two groups and Kelly skated in the morning session. He was in the middle with Milan Lucic on his left and Brian Ferlin on his right.

Kelly joked that Lucic went over to David Krejci after the session and gave him a big hug.