Projo Bruins Blog

By MARK DIVVER
Assistant Sports Editor

PROVIDENCE -- Craig Weller is expected to arrive in Rhode Island either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and will be in the lineup on Friday night against Worcester at The Dunk, according to coach Rob Murray.

Weller, acquired on Sunday from Minnesota as part of the Chuck Kobasew trade, spent four full seasons with the Hartford Wolfpack.

"He was a captain in Hartford, so obviously he's looked at as a good character guy. He's a big body, he's tough. He sticks up for his teammates,'' said Murray.

A 28-year-old right wing, Weller is 6'4'', 220 pounds. His best season in Hartford was in 2005-06 when he had a 12-22-34 line with 152 PIMs in 80 games.

Weller had a goal and two assists in 36 games with the Wild last season. This season he had 0-1-1 in five games with Houston of the AHL.


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Besides Weller, there probably won't be any more additions to the roster this week, Murray said.

"The schedule's still light. Right now, we'll probably go with the bodies we've got,'' he said.

"It's time for these guys to take advantage of the opportunity they're going to get to play some minutes. Obviously there's going to be an assessment made if they can or can't handle it . We're hoping that they can. A guy like Jordan Knackstedt, it's a pretty good opportunity to get going this year.

"You lose March and Vladdy and its going to be a hit to our lineup, obviously. You're not fooling anybody if you think it's going to be the same team. . . . Nobody expected Vladdy to be here to begin with. We liked our team without him. There's no reason we shouldn't like our team now. We hope (they stick with Boston and) we never see them again. Byron Bitz last year was a great example. He went up for one game and he never came back.

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Rob Kwiet (elbow) practiced on Tuesday and looks to be close to returning to the lineup. Kirk MacDonald left practice about 10 minutes early. It appeared that he might have aggravated a groin.

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The lines from Tuesday's practice:

White -- Hamill, LoVecchio, Arniel

Blue -- Clouthier, Knackstedt, Marquardt

Yellow -- MacDermid, Whitfield, Lehtonen

Red -- Larman, Lefebvre, MacDonald

 Tags  Boston Bruins Providence Bruins

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