For the record, he said all that with a smile.
Sturm, who last suited up as an NHL player 14 years ago, added, “We all need breaks. I think it’s important. I’ve texted a little bit, but that’s about all.”
This weekend, Sturm might have the chance to pick up the conversation in person with sons of Italy returnees Hampus Lindholm and Elias Lindholm. Their Team Sweden was knocked out of the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday, the Three Crowns falling to Team USA in overtime in the quarterfinals.
The Canadians will face Finland (with Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo and defenseman Henri Jokiharju) in Friday’s semifinals, while the United States (with goalie Jeremy Swayman and defenseman Charlie McAvoy) will face a surprisingly pesky and resilient Team Slovakia.
It’s down to the final four in the chase for the Olympic gold medal, and it’s down to the final four for the Bruins to be repatriated with some of their top talent.
In Wednesday’s Team USA win, McAvoy for the first time discarded the protective face shield he has been forced to wear since his return to play just over two months ago. The franchise blue liner suffered a facial fracture Nov. 15 in Montreal and played 26 games with the bubble prior to shipping off to Olympus.
In the last of those games, against the Panthers on Feb. 4, McAvoy was felled in open ice by a cheap hit, directly to his head, by Sandis Vilmanis. The hit came five shifts into his night’s work. McAvoy missed the remainder of the period, but returned to play a robust, energized second and third periods, as if to make the point he wasn’t about to miss his chance to play at the Games. Some 48 hours later, he marched in the Opening Ceremony in Milan.
McAvoy, yet to record a point in the Games, kept the bubble on for USA’s first three games of the tournament. Finally free of it against Sweden, just shy of 100 days since the injury and subsequent surgery, he submitted his most robust play to date.
“I thought it was one of his most physical games of the year,” said Sturm.
Sturm added he felt McAvoy’s play in the games prior to the Olympics was not hindered by the bubble.
“For me, he didn’t change at all,” said Sturm. “Yes, he was always very careful about it and anxious — you could see after the hit in Florida he was getting really nervous, but overall I didn’t see a change. We want him to be physical. That’s his game.”
Pavel Zacha, injured just prior to the Olympic break, remained in a red (no-contact) sweater for a second consecutive workout.
Sturm, with both Elias Lindholm and Zacha out of the top-six mix, employed Alex Steeves as the power-play pivot between wingers Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson. Mason Lohrei worked the point, in tandem with Morgan Geekie as the swingman.
The workout lasted just shy of an hour and wrapped up with an emphasis on board work and protecting the puck. Seven pairs of skaters spread out along one side of the rink and fought for possession.
Unless dealt a setback these next few days, Zacha most likely will be able to return for next Thursday’s matchup with the Blue Jackets.
Amid some of the troops returning from Milan, the Bruins won’t work out again until Saturday morning in Brighton, step No. 1 of a three-day practice schedule serving as the tuneup to the club’s return to play next week. They all will be off skates again Tuesday, resume practice Wednesday, and then host Columbus at the Garden … The Bruins will enter post-Olympic play with a tenuous hold on a playoff spot, the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, with 69 points and 25 games remaining. If they produce at the same rate they played the first 25 games this season, 14-11-0, they’ll finish with 97 points, what would be a 21-point improvement over last season. The franchise has never missed the playoffs when finishing with 97 points or more.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.
