Bruins’ center Charlie Coyle has been placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols. Joshua Bessex/Associated Press

The Bruins took seven steps forward and one step back on Sunday as NHL teams reconvened practices across the league after a COVID-induced pause just prior to the Christmas break.
And one rather important player appears to be inching closer to a return to the Bruin fold.

On the COVID front, of the 10 Bruin players who had gone into protocol prior to the break, only Taylor Hall, Brandon Carlo and Oskar Steen remained in, and they were joined by Charlie Coyle.

Meanwhile, the still-unsigned Tuukka Rask was a regular participant in practice along with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman (one of the seven who came out of protocol) and Coach Bruce Cassidy pegged him as being approximately three weeks away from an actual return. Despite not having a contract, Rask looks very much to be a part of this Bruins team.

Though the absences of Hall and now Coyle create a massive hole in their middle six, the Bruins looked closer to an NHL team on Sunday. The Bruins had their top line back together as both Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron returned from protocol.

Marchand said that he experienced some relatively mild symptoms – some nasal congestion and body and headaches for a couple of days.

Asked if he was in line with Cam Neely’s thinking (he said last week that it appeared the league was “looking for trouble” with daily testing of asymptomatic players), Marchand pretty much concurred with the team president.

“It’s tough. This whole thing is tough. There’s obviously a valid argument on both sides, where this could be the new norm with a variant coming around every year,” said Marchand. “It’s something we’re going to have to live with and we can’t be doing this year in and year out, every day. At some point, we have to get back to some normalcy. Guys have done what they’re supposed to do and gotten vaccinated and all that stuff. But at some point, we’ve got to get back to normal. And he’s not wrong. Other leagues have gone to the testing if you have symptoms but if you’re asymptomatic, you just go about your day. We definitely have to get to that. The NBA’s there, the NFL’s going there now and we’re going to be next. It needs to (happen) soon. We can’t continually have hold-ups from the league. If guys are fine, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be able to play. Hopefully we get to that soon.”

With the Bruins game against Pittsburgh at the Garden scheduled for Monday now postponed, their next scheduled game is set for Wednesday in Ottawa, which with the border crossing presents a host of other issues. Canada requires a 14-day quarantine period from an initial positive test, which would mean some of the players who returned to practice on Sunday would not be eligible to return for that game.

If the Ottawa game goes off, Cassidy said that they could travel the day of the game, though everything is still up in the air.

“I honestly think the league wanted to get through today’s testing and see where it kind of fell and then would make the decision with whatever the schedule looks like going forward from that,” said Cassidy.

One of the many moving pieces right now was the re-institution of a six-man taxi squad. According to the AHL transactions, John Moore was recalled to the taxi squad and he was one of the B’s six defensemen in Sunday’s practice.

As for Rask, Cassidy said he could be ready to play when the team comes home from its scheduled three-game road trip to Tampa, Washington and Montreal in the second week in January.

“I think I was told the earliest he would be cleared to play would be when we get back from there,” said Cassidy.

One would assume that Rask would need a tune-up or two in Providence. But whatever is the case, Rask is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel from his offseason hip surgery.

“I essentially know the same thing, that he’ll be ready in a few weeks. I don’t really know a whole lot other than that he’s been skating and working on getting back. Tuuks is one of the best goalies in the world. If he comes back and he’s at that level, then that’s great,” said Marchand.

“He’s one of those guys whose abilities are impressive and it’s why he’s been one of the best goalies in the last 10 or 15 years or whatever it’s been. It’s great that he’s getting that close to getting back. He’s one of those guys that can win you games. But we have a big job to do for the rest of the year, regardless of who’s in net. We’ve got to keep building. It’s starts with the first game on whenever we play again and we go from there.”

MARCHAND DID NOT hide his unhappiness with the NHL pulling out of the Olympics. At 33, Marchand may have missed his chance to go to an Olympics. He would have been a near-automatic pick for Team Canada this year and in 2018, when the league made a strict business decision to not go to South Korea. Though COVID was the cause of it this time, Marchand believes business still played a part.

“It’s very disappointing. That was something that was promised as part of the CBA when they last signed the deal. It almost felt like they were trying to get out of it for a while. They didn’t want us to go. There should have been something in place where we should have been able to go,” said Marchand.

“Guys worked their entire lives. And I know that at the end of the day, they don’t care about the Olympics. They don’t make money on it, and ultimately, it’s a business. And we’re an asset. Let’s just call a spade a spade. They don’t want to risk us getting hurt over there and that’s obviously part of it. But it should be the players’ option to go over and play in the tournament. It’s the Olympics, the best of the best of the best. If you’ve earned the right and the opportunity to play, then you should have the option to go play. It’s extremely disappointing that the players aren’t going. Guys have worked their entire lives to put themselves in position to be at that level and it should be guys’ decision whether they go or not, regardless of what’s happening in the world. If the Olympics are on and they’re playing, then the best players in the world should have that option. It’s tough to deal with.”