"I was irritated with the breaks with the way our season was scheduled at the beginning, but now looking back I guess it kind of worked out, a little time to get ready and get back," Smith said after skating as a full participant during Wednesday's practice at Warrior Ice Arena.
"Excited to get back out there. It's been a lot of time off, so it's nice to get a full day in with the guys and have fun out there…as far as I know, I'm ready to go. Felt great today."
Smith said he is aiming for a return to Boston's lineup against the Flyers, which aligns with what Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy has been told by the club's medical staff.
"I was told that that was the plan to get him ready and should be in for Saturday," said Cassidy. "Full practice with us, obviously, is a good thing. If he wakes up [on Thursday] with no lingering effects, that helps us a lot. Even though we're off [with no practice], it will probably help him recover. I'll have a much better idea Friday when he walks through the door."
Cassidy noted that Smith has been hampered by the lingering injury, which has contributed to a slow offensive start that has the winger without a point through eight games.
"He tried to play through it, and it didn't work out," said Cassidy. "The trainers said, 'Listen, we respect you that you want to play through it but let's get you ready…get you to 100 percent so you can just play the game and not worry about managing yourself out there.'"
Smith said that his goal now is to get ahead of any further issues and avoid having to deal with something for the remainder of the season.
"It's part of the gig. You've got to do your best to manage it and get right to move forward," said Smith. "Just take it day by day, move forward, just one of those things you have to go through, get it right, and you move forward and try to do the little things to make sure you're getting on top of things…tough to go down right at the beginning [of the season]."