BOSTON – Before he started into his question-and-answer media session Tuesday, Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau pointed out what looked obvious to the eye during another practice at Boston University’s Agganis Arena.

“Got enough defensemen out there?” Boudreau asked aloud with a grin. “What are you going to do?”

What are the Ducks going to do? The certain return of Simon Despres to the lineup after a three-month absence and the impending return of Cam Fowler will force them to make decisions with a blue line that has adjusted and played well without the two.

For one, Despres is set to play his first game with the Ducks since having to leave an Oct. 16 contest against Colorado when Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie hit him in the head, resulting in a three-game suspension for Barrie and a lingering concussion for Despres.

Despres missed 42 games, but a four-game American Hockey League conditioning stint with the San Diego Gulls allowed him to “get the rust off my shoulders.”

“After I made that first pass, it was fine,” Despres said. “I had a lot of minutes so I got to play a lot of different situations. Handled the puck a lot, skated a lot. Played in situations where I was tired or worn down so there was a mental aspect to the game. I got better.”

While he had a goal, an assist and a minus-4 rating with the Gulls, the most important part of Despres’s assignment was the defender emerging without any recurrence of symptoms that had lingered until right after Christmas.

“I got drilled a couple of times and my head was fine,” Despres said. “So that was a good test for it. I know I can get hit tomorrow and not be too worried about it.”

It will necessitate a shift in the defense pairings Tuesday against Boston. Despres skated in drills with Sami Vatanen, with Vatanen’s recent partner Kevin Bieksa working with rookie Shea Theodore. Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson remained together.

A bigger decision looms when Fowler comes back. But that won’t come until after the All-Star break, as the Ducks’ most consistent player throughout their first-half struggles will use the extra days to make sure his sprained left knee is completely sound.

“Sure, it’d be nice to get a game in,” Fowler said. “But you have to factor a lot of different things in. I don’t want to put myself at any more risk. I don’t want to put the team in a tough spot. Not that I would but with the break coming up, we can use that to our advantage to get no-doubts, 100-percent ready.

“We’re going to need our team healthy because we’ve got a big playoff push coming up. I want to make sure I’m ready for that.”

The Ducks have survived and flourished. They’re 8-3-1 in the time Fowler has been out, with Theodore coming up from the minors and feeling at home in the NHL, Lindholm having a greater impact, and Manson taking a leap forward in his second season.

“It’s pretty impressive, especially with how young we are,” Fowler said. “A lot of those guys have really stepped up and played some key minutes for us. … Just the poise and a lot of the composure from a lot of the guys back there has been really impressive to me. Certainly one of the reasons why we’ve had some success lately.

“Proud of those guys and hopefully they can keep it going until we all get back and healthy. Then we’ll sort it out from there.”

The addition of Fowler might result in the Ducks sending Theodore back down and also trying to also get Adam Clendening through waivers to the Gulls. Then there’s veteran Clayton Stoner, who’s on injured reserve because of a hip flexor injury.

Boudreau said injuries can allow other players to show what they can do. “But at the same token,” he said, “you certainly like the veteran presence and the memories of when Simon and Cam were paired together and how good they did.”

“It is a good problem to have,” Boudreau said. “It pushes the guys that are playing a little better all the time. Because they know you’ve got some pretty good (defensemen) waiting.”

ANDERSEN PUSHED BACK

Frederik Andersen was among those who called it a good decision for the NHL to postpone the Ducks’ Friday night game at Washington, but the goalie might have had the most to lose with it not being played.

The Ducks were to play on back-to-back nights and that would have resulted in Andersen playing in one of those games, most likely Saturday in Detroit. But with no game, Boudreau went back with John Gibson, who made 24 saves in a 4-3 win.

“It happens,” Andersen said. “You still get to play the game at the end of the year. It has to be played. Still a lot of games left.”

There isn’t a clear idea of when the game will be made up and Andersen simply said “it’s out of our hands.” But Boudreau is taking the postponement into consideration, saying there’s a good chance Andersen will start Tuesday against the Bruins.

“We’ve got two good goalies and we don’t want one sitting for a month,” Boudreau said.

Contact the writer: estephens@ocregister.com