Despite his struggles prior to his injury, it's foolish to think the Bruins did not miss Brandin Carlo in the playoffs last season, especially in their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Carlo suffered a fractured ankle on March 31st in a game against the Florida Panthers. Carlo went on to miss the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. After surgery to repair his ankle, a medical scooter was Carlo's primary way of transportation. Carlo is now back on two feet and more importantly back on skates.

“I’m feeling really good. It just took a little time to heal per the doctor’s orders. I felt like I was on that scooter forever, a little bit longer than I wanted to be," said Carlo, who hit the ice on Thursday for the first day of Bruins captains practice. “As soon as I got back on the ice it hurt initially, but now that we’re really getting into it feels really good."

It was the second consecutive season where a late injury forced Carlo to miss the playoffs,

"From my experience in the NHL so far, it’s been two years where I’ve been up in the press box watching the playoffs with you guys, and you know it’s really hard for me and overall I want to put that past me and focus on this next year because I am really getting excited about what’s going forward," added Carlo. "You know, I’m here and feeling well, so I’m hoping to make that opportunity happen again."

With a week until full training camps open across the league, Carlo says he's cleared medically and ready to give it a full go.

“I’m expecting to be full contact everything at camp, and feeling good and confident about that," said Carlo. "I feel like those (injuries) are just kind of a coincidence, and I feel like coming back stronger this season is going to help me in all those situations.”

Coming back stronger will be key for Carlo who the Bruins expect big minutes from in his third season with the club. As any player will tell you, Carlo knows there is always room for improvement in certain areas that one can work on. It sounds like for Carlo, confidence in himself is where that begins.

"I want to improve a lot of things in my game. I think every player in this locker room will still continue to do that, especially the younger guys," said Carlo. "Even Zee, (Zdeno Chara) you see that off of him, getting better off of Instagram, showing you what he’s doing. Overall for myself, I just think playing with confidence, playing a little bit of a grittier style, and just believing in myself is the biggest thing I can do right now and my skills will follow along."

There's no doubting Carlo has the size and skillset to make it in this league. We saw that for most of his rookie campaign. But a sophomore slump has some doubting Carlo as he enters an important season in 2018-19.

There's going to be a lot of pressure on Carlo in the coming weeks, leading up to the Bruins season opener in Washington. The pressure of returning to form after a difficult injury, combined with the logjam that is the Bruins blueline, will be a key storyline to watch in the month of September.

The Bruins will enter camp on September 10th with eight NHL ready defensemen. Chara, Charlie McAvoy, Torey Krug and newly signed John Moore are all locks for four of the the six starting spots on defense. Carlo, Adam McQuaid, Kevan Miller and Matt Grzelcyk are expected to battle it out for the remaining two spots. Carlo doesn't seem worried about the competition. In fact, he seems to be embracing it.

"I think that's a pretty big compliment, to be a part of a group with eight legitimate NHL defensemen. I know that I'm a part of that group and I want to come in and just have a fire and go for it."

Other Bruins who joined Carlo at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton on Thursday were Danton Heinen, David Krejci, Chris Wagner, Grzelcyk, McQuaid, Moore and Miller.

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