Bruins’ Horton, McQuaid cleared for contact after season-ending concussions

It was a good day for the Boston Bruins, and not just because they announced head coach and Bill Dauterive lookalike Claude Julien's contract extension. General Manager Peter Chiarelli also gave promising reports on his injured players, most notably, Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid, both of whom missed the end of the Bruins 2012 campaign due to concussions.

Both have been cleared for contact.

Horton's concussion problems were especially concerning. After being levelled by Aaron Rome in the 2011 Stanley Cup Final and suffering his first, he came down with a second concussion just six months later after a hit from Flyers' forward Tom Sestito.

With Marc Savard's unceremonious ending still looming in the minds of the Boston faithful, two concussions for Horton in the span of half a year had to be a major concern.

But according to Chiarelli, he's okay.

"By all accounts from our medical staff, [Horton] will be ready to play when it comes time to play," Chiarelli told the media.

This is good news for the Bruins, who missed Horton greatly when he was out of the lineup. In February, their first full month without him, the Bruins won only 5 of 13 games and were shut out a staggering five times.

Chiarelli also announced that Tyler Seguin was ahead of schedule in recovering from his hand injury, perhaps because he's had to use his hand even less than usual this summer. (Thanks, speed dating!)

Of course, with all the action from other teams in the NHL's Northeast division, simply announcing that last year's team is getting healthy isn't quite enough in Boston. So Chiarelli also threw a bone to the people panicked that he's just sitting in his office petting a cat. while watching the other teams get better.

We don't react right away," he said, before adding, "We are not standing still."