One of the biggest question marks surrounding this years Bruins team is the health and effectiveness of Nathan Horton. Those questions will start to be answered in the next couple of days as Horton is expected to be back in Boston tomorrow and should be back skating with his Bruins teammates by this weekend.
Horton missed the final 36 games of the regular season and the playoff series against the Washington Capitals after taking a Tom Sestito blindside hit in a late January game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins right winger suffered his second concussion within an eight month period as a result and was still suffering from concussion-related symptoms in April.
But Horton was cleared medically over the summer prior to the Sept. 15 NHL lockout date, and shouldnt have any limitations when Bruins training camp gets started this weekend.
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Hes all set and he has been for some time, said Hortons agent, Paul Krepelka. Hes really looking forward to playing again.
It will be an important season for Horton to remain healthy and productive as hell be an unrestricted free agent following the 2013 NHL season. The 27-year-old Horton should also provide a boost to the Bruins stagnant power play as he led them with six power play strikes last season despite basically missing the second half of the season. In 46 games Horton finished with 17 goals and 32 points. The Bruins will gladly take that kind of production from the 2011 Game 7 playoff hero.
WEEI.com was the first to report that Horton was back on the ice skating over the last four months while preparing for the NHL lockout to mercifully end at some point. Now its time for Horton to take his rightful place alongside linemates David Krejci and Milan Lucic after the Bruins scrambled to replace his vacant spot last season after his concussion.