Projo Bruins Blog

It's status quo for the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League realignment that was announced today. Providence remains in the Atlantic Division.

The top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the postseason, with the division winners earning the top three seeds.

Here is the new divisional setup:

EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION: Manchester, Portland, Providence, St. John's, Worcester
NORTHEAST DIVISION: Adirondack, Albany, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Springfield
EAST DIVISION: Binghamton, Hershey, Norfolk, Syracuse, Penguins

WESTERN CONFERENCE
NORTH DIVISION: Grand Rapids, Hamilton, Lake Erie, Rochester, Toronto
MIDWEST DIVISION: Charlotte, Chicago, Milwaukee, Peoria, Rockford
WEST DIVISION: Abbotsford, Houston, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Texas

BOSTON (AP)--The Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins acquired defenseman Joe Corvo from the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday for a fourth-round pick in next year's draft.

Corvo scored 11 goals with 29 assists last year. He became available when the Hurricanes signed former Bruin Tomas Kaberle as a free agent.

In eight NHL seasons, Corvo has 79 goals and 179 assists. He has played for the Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings.

A 6-foot-1, 210-pound defenseman, Corvo was originally drafted by the Kings in the fourth round of the 1997 draft.

Also Tuesday, Chiarelli said forward Milan Lucic had surgery to fix the cartilage in his nose, and backup goalie Tuukka Rask had arthroscopic surgery on the meniscus in his knee. Neither is expected to require a long recovery.

The Bruins also signed forwards Jamie Tardif and Josh Hennessy.

Hennessy, a native of Brockton, Mass., who played 20 games for Ottawa from 2006-10, played for the Swiss club HC Lugano last season. Tardif spent the last two years in the AHL.

A few random hockey thoughts on a warm summer Saturday night:

--This was a productive week for the Providence Bruins and new coach Butch Cassidy, and for fans of the team, too.

By holding on to Trent Whitfield, Anton Khudobin and Andrew Bodnarchuk, Boston management kept in place three important players around which Cassidy can build the 2011-12 P-Bruins.

As I've written many times, Whitfield is a pro's pro. His play during the final quarter of last season, when the team was essentially out of the playoff hunt, was off the charts. He scored, he won faceoffs, he anchored the power play.

He leads by example, playing as hard as he can, shift in and shift out. He's a terrific role model for the young players in Providence, and even at age 34 he's still a very good player at the AHL level.

Khudobin, if he had arrived in Providence maybe six weeks earlier, might have gotten the P-Bruins into the playoffs last spring.

Based on his play down the stretch, he looks to be a legitimate difference-maker at the AHL level. For Boston, Khudobin is a good No. 3 goalie to have ready in case of an injury in Boston. If he's healthy and plays most of the year in Providence, the P-Bruins are a good bet to return to the playoffs after missing for two straight seasons.

Even though Bodnarchuk didn't have a great first half last season, he was better in the second half. He's shown that he's capable of being a good player in the AHL. Still only 23, he's a young veteran who can play a lot of minutes in all situations.

Asked about Bodnarchuk late last season, former coach Rob Murray said, "He's the kind of guy where if we didn't have him, we'd be looking for someone just like him.''

-- You'll hear no complaints from me about Boston management's decision to cut loose huge defenseman Boris Valabik. In his time in Providence, Valabik simply didn't look like a guy who could ever help in Boston.

-- I've had enough of the Andrew Miller-Randy Johnson comparisons, but if you think that one is valid, then why can't Benoit Pouliot develop into another Rocket Richard?

Just kidding.

If Pouliot could turn into a consistent 20-to-25-goal scorer, I'm sure the Bruins would be delighted.

--The Vancouver Canucks lost free agents Tanner Glass (Winnipeg) and Alex Bolduc (Phoenix) in the last couple of days, which should be good news for former Brown winger Aaron Volpatti.

Volpatti, who was with the Canucks through the end of the playoffs even though he spent most of the season in the AHL, plays the same kind of tough, physical, grinding game as Glass and Bolduc. Now that they are gone, the door looks to be open for Volpatti to win a regular job in the NHL.

-- Paul Kariya retired this week after a brilliant 15-year NHL career. When Kariya was a freshman at Maine in the fall of 1992, I remember him pulling off an incredible move in a game at Schneider Arena.

Flying in on a one-on-one with a PC defenseman, Kariya did a 360-degree spin at top speed just inside the Friars' blueline. He didn't stop and spin, he spun while in full stride. He did it so fast that the defenseman didn't have time to fall for the move, and just kept backpedaling.

I hadn't seen anything like that before and I haven't seen anything like it since -- at least not at top speed, which for Kariya was really flying.

--Thirty-four-year-old Chris Drury was bought out by the Rangers the other day because of a bad knee, and his remarkable career could be over.

If you saw Drury play in the old Providence Journal Christmas tournament at Brown's Meehan Auditorium in 1993, you probably wouldn't have guessed that Drury would go so far. He was on the chubby side then, midway through his senior year at Fairfield Prep and bound for Boston University on a hockey scholarship the following fall, but his career was just getting started.

He helped Boston University win an NCAA championship in Providence in 1995, and later won the Hobey Baker Award. He won the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year in 1999, and won a Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001. He scored 11 game-winning goals in the playoffs during a four-year stretch with the Avalanche.

Not bad for a kid from Connecticut.

The Boston Bruins today signed free-agent forward Benoit Pouliot to a one-year contract, and forward Trent Whitfield and goaltender Anton Khudobin to two-year deals, according to General Manager Peter Chiarelli.

Pouliot, 24, played in 79 games for the Montreal Canadiens last season and posted 13-17-30 totals.

The 6'3'', 195-pound winger, the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft, has been a major disappointment in Minnesota and Montreal. The Bruins obviously hope that he can realize his potential in Boston.

The signing of Whitfield, 34, and Khudobin, 24, is a major step in the right direction for the Providence Bruins.

TSN's Bob McKenzie reports that Bruins free agent right wing Michael Ryder has agreed to a two-year, $7-million contract with the Dallas Stars.

Fans can get their first look at Dougie Hamilton, Alexander Khokhlachev and many other prospects at next week's Boston Bruins development camp.

Held at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, Mass., the camp opens on Thursday, July 7, and ends on Monday, July 11, the team announced this morning.

Here's the roster:

Forwards: Anthony Camara, Craig Cunningham, Alexander Fallstrom, Brian Ferlin, Justin Florek, Josh Jooris, Jared Knight, Alexander Khokhlachev, Brett Olson, Tyler Randell, Eric Robinson, Ben Sexton, Ryan Spooner

Defensemen: Ryan Button, Marc Cantin, Tommy Cross, Dougie Hamilton, Robby O'Gara, Steven Spinell, Zach Trotman, David Warsofsky

Goaltenders: Zane Gothberg, Mike Hutchinson, Lars Volden.

For a daily schedule go to bostonbruins.com

With the start of free agency looming on Friday, the Boston Bruins sent out an email to other teams on Tuesday offering Tomas Kaberle's rights in trade, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.

A team that traded for Kaberle would have exclusive negotiating rights with the 33-year-old defenseman up until the start of free agency on Friday.

The most the Bruins could hope to receive for Kaberle would be a late-round draft pick.

He and Michael Ryder are the Bruins' only pending free agents.

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