Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Lucic: Wrist 'better than what I expected'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Since he’s still rehabbing from offseason wrist surgery, Bruins forward Milan Lucic did not play in the team’s Black and Gold scrimmage Sunday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Lucic participated in the first two on-ice sessions of training camp and showed no ill effects from the procedure he had on his left wrist last May.

“It’s been good. It’s been better than what I expected, which is obviously a good thing,” Lucic said. “Just seeing my progression the last two weeks has been good. My shooting feel, I’m not going to say it’s completely back to normal, but I can get to where I can get full pressure into my shot.”

Lucic still is limited in battle and forechecking drills and he’s trying not to push it so as to avoid setbacks.

“As of right now, I think it’s just being smart and going about everything the right way and taking it step by step,” Lucic said.

The Bruins have seven preseason games; Lucic isn’t sure how many he’ll play in.

“The games will come whenever I’m ready to play,” he said. “You don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’re having setbacks right away. There’s two ways to look at it: You can come back early and have the opportunity to have a setback, or you come back when you’re fully ready and you’re at your best.”

Lucic said he wants to be as close to 100 percent as possible before playing in an exhibition game.

Lucic does not have a cruise control gear, so it’s been a challenge for him to go easy during training camp.

“That’s the biggest challenge right now,” he said. “You kind of have to think a little bit of not going all out to where you have a possibility of hurting yourself, but also there’s that fine line where you want to go hard and see how far you can push it and see how ready it is. That’s the mindset and mentality right now. It’s felling pretty good right now and you just hope it keeps getting better and better as camp goes on.”

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