Boston Bruins: 5 Players the Defending Champs Can Count on for Reinforcement

The Boston Bruins are two weeks away from training camp, which will commence exactly three months from the day their buses pulled in at TD Garden with the Stanley Cup on board.

There’s no getting around the fact that even three months is not much time to relish, recuperate and refocus. Nor is it very assuring to remember that in the last decade, only one defending champion―the 2007-08 Detroit Red Wings―has so much as gone back to the Finals the following year. The team that dethroned those Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins, is the only other reigning champ since the lockout to have even escaped the first round in defense of its crown.

That having been said, there is enough reason to believe that the 2011-'12 Bruins can set themselves apart from such one-and-done winners as the 2004 Lightning, 2006 Hurricanes, 2007 Ducks and 2010 Blackhawks.

The most favorable aspect is their mixture of relative youth and experience both at the NHL level and within the system. Each of last year’s top four-point getters will be no older than 26 in the coming year, yet they each have anywhere between three and seven NHL seasons already under their belt. Still, another six regular skaters are well under the age of 30.

Still, these guys are human and will almost indubitably show signs of fatigue from last season. That’s where the following key players come into the equation this season.

Honorable mentions: Josh Hennessy, Matt Bartkowski, Anton Khudobin

Hennessy has mustered a mere 20 NHL games in four seasons with Ottawa and none for over a year after spending last season overseas. The defenseman Bartkowski and goaltender Khudobin have only six NHL twirls apiece to speak of.

Nevertheless, they will all be leaned upon to take charge in their respective positions and pilot the Providence Bruins to their first Calder Cup playoff spot in three seasons.

If they deliver what they promise in the minors, they will all doubtlessly be under consideration to come up to Causeway Street when the circumstances necessitate it.

5. Steven Kampfer

In his first full professional campaign, Kampfer led the Providence Bruins with a plus-10 rating. While he barely played a full quarter of the AHL season, most of his time on the farm was while the Baby Bs were struggling, as opposed to their strong 12-6-1 finish to the year.

When on recall to The Show, Kampfer impressed with five goals, 10 points and a plus-nine rating in 38 regular season games. Had any one of Boston’s six defensive regulars been out of commission during the playoffs, he would have been the first Black Ace summoned to action behind Shane Hnidy.

With Hnidy officially retired, Kampfer should be the No. 7 blueliner in Boston to start this year.

4. Jordan Caron

After making the cut at training camp and playing in 20 of Boston’s first 23 games, Caron was reassigned to Providence in early December and played only three more NHL games in February. The rest of the time, he scraped out 28 points in 47 games for a mediocre P-Bruins team and then joined the Black Aces for the parent club’s playoff run.

This year, though, with Mark Recchi retired and Michael Ryder gone to Dallas, Caron is the leading candidate to earn a permanent roster spot with the Spoked-Bs. He, along with free-agent acquisition Benoit Pouliot, will likely join the 11 returnees to constitute a baker’s dozen of regular forwards.

There is a slight chance (emphasis on “slight”) the newly acquired Jay Pandolfo could cause the sophomore a little blockage. But with injuries and post-Cup hangover bound to take its toll on some of the returnees once in a while, Caron ought to get his share of ice time one way or another.

3. Joe Corvo

After Tomas Kaberle turned out to be to the 2011 Bruins’ what Eric Gagne was to the 2007 Red Sox, general manager Peter Chiarelli opted to reel in another productive veteran blueliner.

Corvo will be reunited with Chris Kelly, with whom he fell three wins shy of the 2007 Stanley Cup with the Ottawa Senators. Since that run, he has seen action in a mere 25 playoff games over two separate runs with the Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals.

Accordingly, Corvo ought to come in with the same sort of motivation and appetite as Kelly did when he came in late February.

One matter of concern could be Corvo’s plus/minus in recent seasons, which was alarmingly low even considering the team he was playing for and especially considering his offensive stats. On the other hand, he’s posted better ratings when he’s played for better teams, like the 2006-'07 Senators.

2. Tyler Seguin

His unparalleled youth combined with the fact that he only played 52 percent of the Bruins’ postseason games should make Seguin the most energized skater amongst the defending champions.

In turn, the former No. 2 draft pick should be ready for a sophomore surge after scoring a mere 11 goals and 11 assists in 74 regular-season games and sitting out the first two playoff rounds.

And who knows? Depending on how some of his elders fare, Seguin might be ready to assume a full-time center position and all of the added responsibilities that come with it.

1. Tuukka Rask

A point worth mentioning about the last team to repeat a Stanley Cup championship, namely the 1997-'98 Detroit Red Wings, is that their two titles were backstopped by different goaltenders. And when you think about it, Rask and elder statesman Tim Thomas have a lot in common with Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon.

Just as Rask’s last (and so far only) active playoff run ended in heartache after 13 games, a young Osgood had an infamous episode to end his rookie year when the Sharks upset the Wings in 1994.

After that, Vernon stepped in and played the better part of the 1995 and 1997 playoffs, both of which ended with Detroit in the Finals.

Osgood briefly had the No. 1 job back in 1996, leading the league in many key goaltending categories, but submitted to Colorado in the semifinals. The next year, playing in front of Vernon, the Red Wings avenged their loss to the Avalanche and then ended a long Cup drought with Vernon winning the Conn Smythe Trophy.

Sound familiar?

Unlike Vernon, Thomas will be back for more with the Spoked-Bs, but at his age you cannot expect him to duplicate his entire 2010-'11 campaign. There is every reason to think Rask will be poised to fill in as needed.