WILMINGTON, Mass.Nathan Horton was scheduled to skate on his own Sunday, and it appears thats the last piece of information anybody will have on No. 18 until hes fit to return to the practice ice.
Bruins coach Claude Julien deflected all questions about Hortons current status and whether the solitary skating session was a success, and said he wont be commenting any further on the concussed wingers path to recovery.
Guys, Im done talking about it, said Julien. I look at every team that has guys with concussions, and youve got to give him a chance to let him go through the things. I cant give you an update every day on this guy because it could be long, it could be short. When you see him on the ice with us, its going to be a really good sign, so well leave it at that.
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I dont have the answer, so Im not going to give you an answer. We dont know what concussions are all about. There are forward steps, there are backwards steps. I cant just come out here every day and give you guys an update, because it doesnt make sense.
Horton has missed five games due to the concussion suffered on a Tom Sestito head shot and appeared to be making small steps of progress through last weekend. Nobody can tell if the Bs silence on the matter means that Horton had a setback during his attempt at skating, or if hell be on the practice ice sometime this week.
Concussions are a mystery to everything including the Bs training staff, and oft-times its not a linear progress in recovery.
Guys, protocol is protocol, said Julien. When you see him on the ice with us, hes moving in the right direction.
It appears that the Bs new protocol is not talking about concussed players at all. So that will be the case for Horton and the entire Bs fan base scouring for any kind of update on the Game 7 heros health.