Slegr's ruptured season comes to end

When defenseman Jiri Slegr walked down the hall on his way out of TD Banknorth Garden, one of his teammates wished him good luck.

But it had nothing to do with yesterday's trading deadline. Slegr, who has played just 32 games this season, is scheduled to undergo surgery today on a ruptured disk.

''That's the way it is, I'm out for the season," said Slegr, who will be operated on by Dr. Kirkum Woods of Massachusetts General Hospital. ''It's obviously not fun when you have back problems because you're in and out [of the lineup] and it's hard to explain how you feel on an everyday basis. I took two steroid shots and it's still not working, it's still sore, so it's better to get this fixed so I can play again."

Slegr said his back woes began in the preseason and got worse. His last game was Jan. 16 against Anaheim.

''It's not good to play in pain and, obviously, I wasn't playing, either, the coaches thinking my performance was not quite there," he said. ''[Woods] told me he wouldn't do it if [there was no chance] to play again. He would say wait until your hockey career is over and then do something about it. But he said, 'This is the case, I can fix you and you can play again.' "

Coach Mike Sullivan said Slegr made the right choice.

''He's had a frustrating year from an injury standpoint," said Sullivan. ''The troubles that he's gone through with his back have really inhibited [him]. For his sake, it's the right decision for him to try to rectify some of the issues he's dealing with so he can resume his career and give himself the best chance to be effective."

The Bruins lost rookie defenseman Milan Jurcina for much of the third period after Jurcina absorbed a hit on his left shoulder behind the net. He came through the dressing room with an ice pack and towel covering the shoulder and was reluctant to say much about the nature of the injury. ''It's sore and swollen," he said. ''We'll see what happens." . . . Newly acquired forward Mariusz Czerkawski wasn't in attendance because of visa issues that were still being ironed out. It's possible he could be at Boston's practice this morning at the Ristuccia Center . . . Tim Thomas, who had lost his last three starts in regulation and a fourth in overtime, was in net against the Canadiens in a pivotal game last night, another loss. ''We're on thin ice right now," said backup Andrew Raycroft. ''We need to win. Any time you don't win, it makes it tense, especially when we're in the situation we are. It's a lot of points to catch up on [against a] team that's playing pretty well." Raycroft's name was often brought up in trade rumors and general manager Mike O'Connell said there was quite a bit of interest but he didn't want to move the second-year goalie. Raycroft said he wants to stay put but he also wants to play. ''I need to play," said Raycroft. ''It's so frustrating to sit on the bench, you don't understand sometimes why you don't play, but I want to be here, without a doubt." . . . Left wing P.J. Axelsson, who suffered a knee injury March 1 against Carolina, hasn't begun skating. ''He's status quo," said Sullivan. ''I know he's making progress, not as fast as we'd like him to but I think that's just the nature of his injury." . . . Because Sergei Samsonov was traded to Edmonton, the Bruins recalled forward Ben Walter, who played 15 shifts last night . . . The Canadiens acquired defenseman Todd Simpson from the Blackhawks for a sixth-round pick. Simpson, 32, appeared in 45 games after being signed as a free agent last August.