Smith

Agent Ben Hankinson announced via his Twitter feed that the Bruins have signed his client, Wyatt Smith, to make up for the injury to veteran center Trent Whitfield.

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Savard/By S. Bradley

While the world awaits the announcement of the NHL’s decision about Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract Friday night, there is still the matter of the investigation into the deals of four other prominent players, including Bruins center Marc Savard, to be dealt with.

It came to light shortly after the NHL rejected the first Kovalchuk deal that the league was also looking into the long-term deals of Savard, Marian Hossa, Roberto Luongo and Chris Pronger for any signs of circumvention of the salary cap.

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While the one trophy that he most covets continues to elude him, Bruins President Cam Neely keeps acquiring awards even in retirement.

Neely, still in search of his first Stanley Cup, was announced today as one of four recipients of the 2010 Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the U.S.

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Savard is expected to show up for camp/By S. Bradley

Anything could happen over the next 16 days before the Bruins officially report for training camp, but right now general manager Peter Chiarelli says that the roster you see now will be the roster you’ll observe then.

“I’m happy where we’re at. I know there’s been some stuff in the summer with Tim [Thomas] and Marc [Savard], and that has blown by, and we’ve got those two players on our roster, we’ve got some young blood coming and that’s where we’re at,” Chiarelli told TheBruinsBlog.net Tuesday afternoon.

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The NHLPA today distributed the below photo from its Rookie Showcase in Toronto. The next time these two square off should be Feb. 27 in Edmonton.

Tyler Seguin (left) takes on Taylor Hall in EA NHL '11 in Toronto/Courtesy NHLPA

The Bruins are 17 days away from reporting for the official opening of training camp.

They will report with many of the same bodies, but a slightly different team dynamic.

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Lucic/By S. Bradley

Here’s the last mailbag installment prior to the opening of training camp. Expect another one in late September.

Pierre Bezukhov wrote: How do you see the lines and D pairings shaking out? The idea of Marc Savard, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton together has me pretty excited!

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Fehr

Here at The Bruins Blog, I try to stay out of the labor aspects of the NHL unless there’s obvious news that needs covering – as in a renewal, renegotiation or alteration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or a declaration from either side about negotiations.

Both sides are very secretive when it comes to labor talks, and there’s just way too much speculation and misinformation to form an opinion most of the time. Even the most connected and in-tune reporters have been burned by bad information when it comes to the NHL-NHLPA relationship. Remember the so-called agreement reached in February 2005?

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Most Bruins’ fans’ most important fantasy is the one about the Duck Boat parade down Causeway Street that gets staged after Boston ends its Stanley Cup drought just shy of the 40-year mark.

However, there is a large contingent that also has a fantasy about winning a league with friends after drafting a team that actually doesn’t include members of their favorite team.

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Apparently “The Peacock” isn’t as impressed by the Bruins’ offseason maneuverings as many hockey experts.

The NHL today released its national television schedules. While Boston will appear on VS 11 times, the Bruins are scheduled for just two NBC games — both of which would have to be flexed by the network.

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The NHL lost one of its better people, and best interviews, of the last decade or so when Aaron Ward announced his retirement after more than 13 seasons at the game’s highest level today.

Ward, 37, played in more than 839 career games and won three Stanley Cup championships — one with Carolina and two with Detroit. In a Bruins uniform, he skated in 150 regular-season games and 17 postseason contests, as he helped restore the Bruins to a place of prominence in the NHL hierarchy.

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Whitfield

Let’s face it folks, there’s no reason to panic about how Trent Whitfield’s season-ending injury, reported and confirmed by numerous outlets the last couple days, is going to affect the depth chart in Boston.

If there’s one area the Bruins can afford to lose players, it’s at center.

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Seguin/By S. Bradley

The immediate future of No. 2 overall draft pick Tyler Seguin is one of the biggest issues on my readers’ minds, as evidenced by the multitude of questions about whether the forward will be on the NHL roster and where he will play.

Here’s a mailbag installment that deals with Seguin, Boston’s other rookies, Milan Lucic and David Krejci.

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Bergeron/By S. Bradley

Your responses to my request for mailbag questions, again, overwhelmed me. As I started to write the answer to the first question in my mailbox, I realized I exceeded 700 words and wasn’t done. So without writing a Bill Simmons-like manifesto, here’s the answer to that first question:

Scott Comeau wrote:

What do you expect Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron will each get in terms of money and length of contract? I realize this is a tough question, however please give me an educated guess.

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