Boston Bruins: 6 Player-Team Reunions On The 2011-12 Schedule

Although the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins underwent an altogether negligible amount of offseason overhauls, there have been enough transactions since the start of last season to mark off six noteworthy dates on the 2011-12 schedule.

Three former Bruins, two of whom were dealt in the middle of the 2010-11 season and one who took off this past summer, are all slated to pay their first visit to TD Garden since they last wore black and gold. Meanwhile, two new Bruinss will have ventured into their previous home arena before this season is even a month old.

In addition, one offseason castaway will welcome his old friends to his new abode for a nonconference confrontation on New Year’s Eve.

Here now, in more detail, are the six recently-acquired or recently-dealt Bruins and what type of reception they should warrant at game time.

October 10: Matt Hunwick, Colorado Avalanche Come To The Garden

The homegrown defenseman was swapped out last November after nearly six-and-a-half years in the Bruins organization, which included his last three seasons at the University of Michigan followed by 164 appearances in Boston.

Just his luck, everyone back in New England went on to vindicate themselves from a rather vinegary 2009-10 campaign. Hunwick never got that chance, but he was well on his way. Leading up to the trade, he had retained a plus-4 rating in 22 games, whiting out the memories of a minus-16 season the year prior.

Now he’s back to where he began with the Bruins in 2007-08, trying to help a Colorado team replenish its relevance.

When Hunwick returns for a Columbus Day matinee, he should at least draw a polite ovation.

October 12: Joe Corvo Returns To Carolina

The grizzled blueliner is just coming off a year that tied his NHL career-high with 40 points in 82 games for the hapless Hurricanes. Corvo finished his only other full season in Carolina (2008-09) with a similar scoring log of 14 goals and 38 points.

And in both cases, he led all Hurricanes defensemen in scoring. Considering that, he will be doubtlessly missed, although whether he is a big-enough loss to draw boos for leaving the team is up for debate.

We’ll just have to wait for this night to find out when the Bruins play their first 2011-12 road game down at the RBC Center.

October 18: Tomas Kaberle, Carolina Hurricanes Blow In To Boston

Kaberle will undoubtedly go down in the 2010-11 Bruins annals as their answer to Eric Gagne and the 2007 Red Sox. He was a late-season rental who underperformed but was spared the liability label by a championship.

For that reason, the appropriate way for the TD Garden masses to receive Kaberle would be indifference. While his inconsistency in the homestretch and playoffs was the source of immense angst, he did lead all Boston players with five power-play points in the postseason. And the team’s Stanley Cup title is no less valid because of his role in the journey.

October 29: Benoit Pouliot Returns To Monreal

Whoa.

Within five months of dropping his gloves with Boston defenseman Andrew Ference in a pivotal playoff game, and within a few short days of training camp with his new team, Pouliot didn’t mince words about his old club. Upon shuffling down from Montreal via free agency, he bluntly concluded that he had switched to the “right side” of the storied Bruins-Canadiens feud.

Bruins buffs can certainly take pleasure in the plain fact that Pouliot has gotten into the black-and-gold spirit without hesitation. And like anybody else, his assessment is protected by a figurative goaltender wearing the No. 1 and the name “Amendment” on his back.

That notwithstanding, in light of his remarks, expect the Bell Centre to release a spectacular flock of boobirds when Pouliot re-emerges in enemy attire.

December 31: Bruins Visit Michael Ryder and the Dallas Stars

Each of the Bruins' last two home dates with the Stars speak for themselves. And as it happens, those two games occurred in Ryder’s first and final seasons in Boston.

But it’s worth mentioning that there was a comparatively placid confrontation sandwiched between those Beantown bloodbaths at Dallas’ American Airlines Center in October 2009. The main reason for last year’s rivalry revival was newly-acquired Bruin Gregory Campbell’s unfinished business with Dallas’ Steve Ott, which explains why they constituted the first of those three fights.

So, what does this mean for Ryder and his first bout with the Bruins in Dallas attire? Probably nothing, but that won’t stop the speculation leading into this game.

Ryder has not been in a notable fight since his major-junior days and by now the animosity between these non-conference opponents has surely been exhausted. But stranger things have happened.

If nothing else, one of his new teammates could skirmish with one of his old allies, in which case Ryder will be on the spot to give his take to the media afterwards.

January 7: Marco Sturm (Old Friend) and the Vancouver Canucks (Old Foes)

If only for a moment, forget the fact that this is the first rematch of the most recent Stanley Cup finals. Unless they happen to meet in the playoffs again in the near future, there is no conceivable chance of long-term animosity brewing between the Bruins and Canucks.

Instead, the focal story of this game should be the return of a key member of the Bruins’ resurgence. Of the three players imported from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Joe Thornton, Sturm stuck around the longest and lived through the nadir of recent Bruins’ history before he helped turn things around.

Along with the likes of Patrice Bergeron and Tim Thomas, Sturm waited out the last days of Mike Sullivan and the whole throwaway year of Dave Lewis before thriving under Claude Julien. Sturm inserted two of the most marquee goals in the first three years of the Julien era, winning the epic Game 6 against Montreal in the first round of the 2008 playoffs and clinching a walkoff win at Fenway Park in the 2010 Winter Classic.

Regrettably, unlike Bergeron and Thomas, Sturm could not stick around long enough to enjoy the culmination of the Bruins’ 180-degree turnaround.

After 302 games, 106 goals and 87 assists in four-and-a-half seasons, a freak injury in the 2010 playoffs rendered him invalid for the first half of last season. He wound up splitting an abbreviated campaign between Los Angeles and Washington and got less than he deserved as his old mates won the Cup without him.

Sturm’s first visit back to TD Garden will come in the middle of his new slate with the Canucks and he should be welcomed back with sympathy and appreciation.