Brad Marchand looks less than 100% in return to the ice.

Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand made his return to the ice last week, but onlookers were quick to notice that the captain of the Bruins didn't look like his normal self out on the ice.

The Bruins held their annual captain's practice at their training facility, Warrior Ice arena, last week and it was there that Marchand returned to the ice after having some major work done on his body during the offseason. Marchand underwent 3 different surgical procedures to repair his damaged body, including one to repair a torn tendon in his elbow, one to repair a sports hernia in his groin, and another sports hernia surgery in his abdominal area.

As you might expect Marchand was less than 100% when he hit the ice for the captain's practice, something the National Hockey League Network's Mike Johnson was quick to notice.

"I don't want to read too much into the captain's practice footage, but he wasn't moving completely free out there just yet," observed Johnson.

Johnson wasn't surprised given where Marchand is in his NHL career.

"The further you get into your career, whether you're 29 or 36 or whatever it might be, it takes a little longer to heal, to recover, to get in shape and to find your best game," said Johnson. "That's just the reality of sports and the age curve that we all deal with."

Not only is that obviously the case, but Marchand admitted following his time on the ice that the surgeries have delayed his normal offseason preparations.

"There’s a lot of work to be done,” Marchand said as per NHL.com. “The summer that I had is not typical for what I’m used to, and it might take to the season. It might take a little bit into the season, but I’ll treat the next two months like a summer and train and skate the way that I normally would in the summer, kind of from now on."

Marchand still has time to do some catching up before NHL training camps get under way, and hopefully that will mean he will be ready to go by the time the season has rolled around.