WILMINGTON — Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Tuesday’s optional practice that forward Rich Peverley will join the team on its upcoming three-game west coast road trip.

Peverley has not played since Feb. 15 due to a knee sprain, but started skating again last Wednesday. He has yet to take physical contact, but is considered day-to-day by the team.

Julien also said that there is no news regarding the status of concussed forward Nathan Horton, and that the winger will not be traveling with the team.

“No, same old same old,” Julien said of Horton. “Nothing different. He’s still working out but not on the ice yet.”

Horton has not played since Jan. 22. He has 17 goals and 15 assists for 32 points in 46 games this season

The Bruins got an encouraging sign Monday morning when forward Rich Peverley, who is coming back from a sprained right knee, took part in the team’s morning skate. It was Peverley’s first time participating in a practice with teammates since suffering his injury on Feb. 15, and he could be closing in on a return to the lineup.

“Day-to-day,” coach Claude Julien said of Peverley’s status. “There’s no exact time for when he’s going to start playing again, but he’s looking better every day.”

Peverley began skating on his own last Wednesday. Morning skates are non-contact practices, so taking contact will be the next step in the forward’s recovery.

“He’s progressed since [Wednesday],” Julien said. “When you’ve been off that long, you don’t just come back overnight, so we’re going to give him a chance and wait for our doctors to clear him.”

In 49 games this season, Peverley has nine goals and 29 assists for 38 points.

WILMINGTON — Bruins forward Rich Peverley skated for the third straight day Friday at Ristuccia Arena. The veteran winger then spoke to the media for the first time since suffering his knee injury last month.

Peverley has been out since Feb. 15, when a knee-on-knee hit from then-Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill left him with a sprained MCL in his right knee.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I’ve been skating for a couple of days, and it’s getting better every day.”

Added Peverley: “The first couple of days were kind of just getting back into it, and then today was a little bit harder, a little longer. I felt pretty good on the ice. It’s just about taking gradual steps.”

Peverley has yet to practice with teammates and said that there is currently no timetable for when that will happen. At the time of his injury, the Bruins estimated that he would miss 4-6 weeks. He hopes to make a return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.

“I think it would be tough to just go right into the playoffs,” he said. “I’d like to get in [before then], but I’m taking it day-by-day right now and [will] see where it goes.”

The 29-year-old had also been dealing with a nagging injury prior to suffering his knee injury. The team had given him practices and games off in December and January to accommodate the injury, and Peverley estimated in January that the injury might pester him throughout the season. He said Friday that the injury had gone away prior to his knee injury, and that it is no longer bothering him.

“It went away when I was still playing, so I dealt with it in different areas, and it was a lot better,” he said. “It wasn’t bothering me at all.”

Peverley added that it’s been difficult to watch the Bruins, who have lost four straight.

“It’s tough,” he said. “You want to win games even if you’re not playing — you’re part of a team. Every team has its ups and downs during the year. It’s no different. Hopefully we can get out of this slump soon.”

WILMINGTON — The Bruins flew in from Florida Friday morning after a disappointing road trip that saw them drop games to the Penguins, Lightning and Panthers. Having now lost four in a row, the Bruins are set to fall into seventh place in the Eastern Conference with a Senators win over the last-place Canadiens Friday night.

Despite their busy schedule, the B’s still held practice Friday. They took the ice at around 2:35 p.m. at Ristuccia Arena, with all players present. Rich Peverley skated by himself prior to the practice but did not join his teammates. Peverley has been skating since Wednesday.

Bruins coach Claude Julien told reporters in Florida Thursday that forward Rich Peverley, who has been out since Feb. 15 with an MCL sprain, returned to the ice Wednesday in Boston for the first time since suffering his injury.

Peverley was expected to miss 4-6 weeks at the time of the injury. In 49 games this season, he has nine goals and 29 assists for 38 points.

Julien also said that Tim Thomas will be the starting goaltender Thursday vs. the Panthers. Thomas has played in 10 consecutive games, but has played 20 minutes or less in each of the last two Bruins contests.

With the NHL trade deadline just hours away, NESN Bruins studio analyst Barry Pederson joined Mut & Merloni Monday afternoon to talk about what the Bruins need to improve and what kind of moves they should make, if any.

Very few major moves have been made by any teams, but Pederson said that he would be more surprised if the Bruins made no move than if they made a major trade.

“I think they need some depth, especially when Andrew Ference went down, that really showed me that you needed another left-handed defenseman,” Pederson said. “I would look for them to try to add that because I know that Dennis Seidenberg can play the right side, he showed that and then some in the playoffs what he could do when he’s with [Zdeno] Chara, and I think they’ll want to do that come playoff time again.

“I think you want to get some depth up front for the reasons we just talked about — you’re not sure what’s going to happen with Nathan [Horton], you’re hoping he can come back, and Rich Peverley with that knee injury, you never know what they’re going to be like.”

That being said, Pederson noted that the Bruins would be wise to not jeopardize the promising future that they have with their current roster.

“They’re still in great, great shape,” Pederson said. “They’ve got a great core, they’re well-positioned salary cap-wise, they’re young, they’re talented, they’re physical, they’re packing the building over here.

“The Bruins fans are excited not only because of last year’s win, but if you look ahead and you go, ‘You know what? Barring any major injuries, this organization is built to be good for a number of years to come.’ ”

Part of the reason the Bruins should be weary of a major trade, to Pederson, is that trades often come with a wide array of variables and can often backfire.

“The difficult part with that, and it’s the same thing I’m sure the Rangers are kind of talking about and Pittsburgh with [Sidney] Crosby, is you have concussions and you also have great chemistry, and that’s something that you can’t take for granted,” Pederson said. “One of the major reasons for the Bruins to be so successful in that Cup run last year was they had each other’s back.

“It was an all-for-one, one-for-all type of mentality. The Rangers, I think, have that right now, I think Pittsburgh’s getting that. That, to me, is so important.”

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Brad Marchand. (AP)

Bruins forward Brad Marchand made his weekly appearance on Mut & Merloni Friday afternoon to discuss his criticism of Canadians fans and his father’s role in keeping him stable after the Stanley Cup last summer, among other things.

After Canadiens fans cheered Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara getting hit in the face with a puck in the Bruins’ 4-3 win Wednesday, Marchand was publicly outspoken about the fans’ reaction. To him, it was a disrespectful move that is never justified in sports, no matter what teams are playing.

“Anytime a guy gets hurt, you have to respect the fact that he’s out there doing his job, trying to make a living,” Marchand said. “It’s a dangerous sport, it’s a dangerous game and when people are cheering…if he takes a puck in the throat, it could have been a really bad situation. The fact that they were cheering when he got hurt, it’s just embarrassing.”

Marchand has found himself in the news recently for his off-the-ice actions, as he revealed in a recent Sports Illustrated interview that he was too drunk to appear in the Bruins’ commemorative championship DVD. He admitted that he had too much fun in the aftermath of winning the Stanley Cup, but that his father was a crucial figure in helping him stay in line.

“He sat me down after a while and was actually really upset with me, just like, ‘You’re taking it too far, you’ve only won it one time. I don’t want you to win it once, I want you to win it three or four [times],’” Marchand said. “So he said, ‘If you win two Cups in the next three years, I’ll leave you alone and let you celebrate and party the way you want to.  He said, ‘Until then, I’m going to be all over you until you do it again.’ I like the challenge.” Read the rest of this entry »