The plan was to see, as Peter Chiarelli described it, the progression for David Pastrnak this training camp.

BOSTON — The plan was to see, as Peter Chiarelli described it, the progression for David Pastrnak this training camp.

There was the rookie camp and tournament, facing off against his peers for several days. Then there would be training camp and a jump in intensity during practice. And then there would be the preseason games, the chance to see how he handles the best imitation of NHL hockey there is.

It hasn't gone that way.

Pastrnak hurt his shoulder on the second day of camp and hasn't been seen much since. He started skating several days later and it was only Sunday that he began practicing, but not yet fully cleared for contact. Meanwhile, the Bruins played five preseason games, the majority of their schedule, while Pastrnak sat and waited.

“It’s always the worst part for a hockey player when you’re just watching games and you can’t play them,” Pastrnak said. “It’s real sad, but that’s part of hockey and that happens.”

It was especially sad for the 18-year-old first-round pick, who could've used every chance he had to make an impression in camp and prove he's ready for this level. The Bruins missed a chance to break down his shifts one by one, evaluate what he did right and did wrong, and get a better feel for how he would fit into a team of veterans that should be a championship contender again.

“I guess sometimes a guy doesn't have a lot of opportunities to showcase what he can do,” coach Claude Julien said of the 170-pound youngster. “Unfortunately for David, that's the case. He's a young player, so we know for us, to keep him here, there's a lot of things we have to see. He's not a very big player, so can he handle the strength of this league overall? We know the skill level and his skating is good, but he's going to have to show us that if he's able to play in these games.

“If not, then it becomes an even tougher decision to make. That's something we'll end up discussing just before we make our final roster decisions with everybody.”

There's hope that Pastrnak can play in the final two exhibition games, Friday against the Islanders in Bridgeport and Saturday at home against the Red Wings. He'll need to be medically cleared first, something the Bruins seem confident will happen.

The decision comes down to keeping Pastrnak in Boston, at least through nine games, or sending him back to his Swedish league team.

Even if Pastrnak plays both games, that’ll be some 40-odd shifts and 30-or-so minutes of ice time. Is that really enough to make such a big decision?

“I don't know if it's enough time to have a clear idea,” Julien said, “but that's all we have and we've got to live with it.”

Pastrnak is an offensive-first player. His skill and skating jump off the ice to even the casual observer. Of course, like with any prospect, the Bruins also judge him on his other areas, his defense and positioning and work along the boards. Pastrnak says he has worked on that in practice, but the coach says that's not such a great tool to evaluate those areas of his game.

“You can see some of that stuff, but honestly, it's in the game that it really shows,” Julien said. “In the game, it's called back-checking, about playing your 40- or 50-second shift properly. In practice, you might go for 20 seconds and it's one drive or one back-check and coach blows the whistle and the next line goes. So it's not as easy to evaluate because he's only focusing on that.

“When you're playing the game, you've got to be able to shift from offense to defense to back-check to board battles and all that, all in one shift. You don't get the same thing out of a practice.”

Pastrnak was hurt Sept. 20 in practice when his shoulder hit the boards at Ristuccia Arena. There has always been concern about how the slight youngster would hold up in a regular season with players 30 pounds-or-more leaning on him, but Julien downplayed that this injury exacerbated those concerns.

Pastrnak said he simply lost his balance as he chased the puck, a story that holds up considering how often he fell down during development camp over the summer.

“It would mean a lot for me, but I don’t know how my shoulder feels, so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Pastrnak said. “But it would mean a lot for me and I would try to do my best.”

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