BOSTON — Ryan Spooner is back in town, and he’s not here to watch hockey.
Spooner was recalled by the Bruins on Thursday morning from Providence, and the 21-year-old will make his season debut against the Anaheim Ducks at TD Garden.
Bruins coach Claude Julien said that the B’s are looking for a little more speed and athleticism up front, and the thought is that Spooner can provide that. He was one of the club’s best players during training camp, but a logjam at center — his natural position — as well as contractual situations dictated Spooner would start the season in Providence.
Julien would not reveal, however, who Spooner would replace in the Bruins lineup. That information will likely come from pregame warmups, assuming Julien isn’t making this a true gametime decision.
Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne will not play for the Ducks. He’s back in California after taking a stick to the face earlier in the week. The 43-year-old is expected to miss two weeks.
Here are the projected lines for both clubs.
Bruins (7-4-0, 14 points)
Milan Lucic — David Krejci — Jarome Iginla
Reilly Smith — Patrice Bergeron — Brad Marchand
Ryan Spooner — Chris Kelly — Jordan Caron
Daniel Paille — Gregory Campbell — Shawn Thornton
Zdeno Chara — Johnny Boychuk
Dennis Seidenberg — Dougie Hamilton/Matt Bartkowski
Torey Krug — Adam McQuaid
Ducks (10-3-0, 20 points)
Patrick Maroon — Ryan Getzlaf — Corey Perry
Emerson Etem — Mathieu Perreault — Kyle Palmieri
Andrew Cogliano — Nick Bonino — Dustin Penner
Devante Smith-Pelly — Peter Holland — Daniel Winnik
Hampus Lindholm — Francois Beauchemin
Cam Fowler — Ben Lovejoy
Bryan Allen — Sami Vatanen
