The New Jersey Devils haven’t ruled out having Brian Boyle in the lineup for their season opener, despite him being diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia on Sept. 19.
“There’s a possibility,” Devils coach John Hynes said after the team’s win against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com. “Brian will be back with us starting [Thursday] and then we’ll just kind of see where he goes over the next week. But nothing has been ruled out yet.”
Gulitti reports that Boyle has been skating on his own since the diagnosis but hasn’t taken part in a full team practice.
But Hynes isn’t worried about that, saying there is still lots of time for Boyle to get ready before the team opens the season on Oct. 7 against the Colorado Avalanche.
“I think with Brian, he knows really when he’s ready,” Hynes said. “We’re not going to rush him. If he is ready and he can get a full week of practice in, that’s probably fine. He’s not going to get a pre-season game, so no matter what he’s going into a regular season game [first]. If he’s back with us next week, we’re going to have some very intense practices and if he gets a full week, I have a pretty strong feel he’ll be ready to go.
“But we’ll just discuss it with him and see where he’s at.”
[relatedlinks]