Bruins Notes: Backes, Czarnik, McIntyre

The Boston Bruins announced today that David Backes “underwent the removal of the olecranon bursa from his elbow on Monday”. In layman’s terms, Backes was suffering from bursitis in his elbow, causing painful inflammation. The procedure, which kept Backes out of the Bruins game last night and will sideline him for a while longer, was kept under wraps until now. Given the release by the Bruins, it is not expected that Backes will be out for more than a week.

The Bruins, who are losers of two straight, could use Backes back as soon as possible. Their big free agent acquisition has four points in five games thus far, and has brought a strong, steady presence to Boston’s forward core. Backes has been as reliable as they come throughout his NHL career, and getting him back and healthy will be key for the Bruins to get back on track.

In other Bruins roster moves:

• In a corresponding move, the Bruins have called up Austin Czarnik. The Miami University product began the regular season with the Bruins while Patrice Bergeron was injured, but will now rejoin the big-league squad after some time with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. With the Bruins back to last season’s structure of Bergeron, David Krejci, and Ryan Spooner down the middle, Czarnik will likely slot in on the wing.

•  After making his NHL debut in last night’s blowout loss to the Minnesota Wild in relief of Malcolm Subban, rookie Zane McIntyre is set to make his first start in the league tonight at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. With Anton Khudobin out for the next few weeks due to injury, a strong performance tonight for McIntyre should earn him the backup role behind Tuukka Rask when the valued starter returns.