The details are beginning to filter out about Boston Bruins training camp. Its expected the camp will open up on Sunday with players going through measurements and fitness testing. It's also expected that the roster will be augmented by a group of seven players from the minor leagues and junior hockey.
According to a Providence Journal report, P-Bruins players Chris Bourque, Jamie Tardif, Ryan Spooner, Lane MacDermid, Matt Bartkowski and David Warsofsky will be pulled from Providence to skate with the Boston players during five days of workouts.
Bourque would appear to have the inside track on the third line wing spot thats open with the Bruins alongside Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley after starring for Providence in the first half of the season.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
But hell be battling with Spooner, Tardif and MacDermid for the spot, and will need to show offensive ability along with the necessary grittiness needed from a bottom-six forward. Bourque led the P-Bruins with 28 points (8 goals, 28 assists) in 31 games this season after arriving from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Zach Hamill.
In addition Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli indicated in September that former first round pick Dougie Hamilton would be joining the Bs if and when the organization put together a training camp.
Hamilton piled up 41 points for the Niagara IceDogs in 32 OHL games prior to playing for Team Canada in the World Junior tournament in Russia, but struggled during at the tourney along with much of the rest of the disappointing Canadian club. Its thought that Hamiltons level of play had dropped because he wasnt challenged by the OHL level of competition, and the chance to step up to the NHL level could be the exact kind of booster shot his game needs.
That would appear to round out the invites to the abbreviated training camp before the NHL season is expected to begin on Jan. 19. Jordan Caron ended last season with the Bruins and finished his year up strongly, but struggled with consistency in the AHL this season before suffering an upper-body injury last weekend. Torey Krug was also just coming back from a concussion and was held back from training camp after getting in a few games with Boston at the end of last season.
Perhaps the most surprising omission from the quick NHL camp was goaltender Niklas Svedberg, who was been very good in his first professional season with the Providence Bruins. Hes 13-6-1 with a 2.45 goals against average and a .921 save percentage and a shutout in 21 games for Providence, and has seized the starting gig away from Bs draft pick Michael Hutchinson.