BOSTON — Training camp is always a time for players to battle for roster spots.
But after the second full day of camp practices on Sunday, Bruins coach Claude Julien was quick to point out that the ultimate goal was to put together the best possible team, not to set up individual players for personal clashes.
That's true of the team's goaltending situation, where Julien sees wisdom in utilizing both Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas as one of the strongest tandems in the league rather than pigeonholing either netminder into a defined role as a starter or backup in camp.
"I think it's almost a tendency to look at those situations one way," said Julien. "I'll go back to the goaltending, where we kind of look at it as a situation and position of strength, and it should be an asset to our hockey club. We don't want to make it into a negative thing. You know, 'Oh, this guy wants to be No. 1, the other guy wants to be No. 1,' so now it's going to be a fight and some controversy, but, you know, that's up to us as a coaching staff to manage it so that we can get the best out of it and naturally have it remain competitive."
Julien is applying the same philosophy to the status of camp invite Brian McGrattan and incumbent enforcer Shawn Thornton. While both play similar roles in providing a physical presence to the club, Julien doesn't see the need to choose to have just one or the other on the final roster if they both prove they deserve to stay.
"That's the same thing I would answer to you in regards to Thornton and McGrattan," said Julien. "Should we put them one against each other or should we say, 'How much tougher are we now with those two guys here?' And that's how we're looking at it. When it's all said and done, it's going to be up to us to sort it out whether we want both to stay on or whether one is better than the other. This is what competition is all about here.
"I don't think we're here to threaten one player who has been on our team for three years [and say], 'Oh, we just signed you this new deal and, by the way, we're bringing somebody else in to take away your job,'" added Julien, referring to the two-year extension Thornton signed this summer. "It's the nature of the business to try to build the best team you can, and right now, I think heading into these [preseason] games, we are a much tougher team than we were before [McGrattan] was here. It's an asset to us, and that's the way I look at it."
Some other quick observations from the second day of on-ice double sessions at training camp:
– Rookie defenseman Ryan Button found himself in a perilous position in the afternoon session on Sunday, as he was in the path of a Zdeno Chara blast during one drill. Chara didn't tee it up full force, but Button was still limping around a bit after taking the shot off his leg. Full marks to the youngster though, as he did not miss a turn in the drills.
– Disaster was also averted in the morning when forward Kirk MacDonald crashed the crease and bowled over Rask. The Bruins netminder wasn't happy with the contact, but neither player was hurt.
– Julien drew the biggest laugh of the day when he was asked how McGrattan managed to pile up an AHL record 551 penalty minutes in 2004-05. "Well, when you enjoy doing what you do," said Julien. "You do it."
– The lines and defense pairings in both groups Sunday remained the same as those used on Saturday. That included rookie Tyler Seguin continuing to skate alongside Mark Recchi, hopefully soaking up more of the veteran's knowledge in the morning session.
– Julien ended his chat with the media by announcing a schedule change for Monday. The two daily practices scheduled have been replaced with an informal scrimmage at noon.
"We are going to have a black and white scrimmage here," said Julien. "So instead of having two practices, what we’ll probably have is both teams go on [the ice] for half an hour and just work on a couple of little things, and then we’ll have a flood and by noon, it will be two twenty-minute, stop-time periods. Little bit of a scrimmage, so hopefully you guys will enjoy that."
The lineups for the scrimmage have been set. Group A will have forwards Jamie Arniel, Joe Colborne, Zach Hamill, Nathan Horton, Jared Knight, David Krejci, Lane MacDermid, Brad Marchand, Jeremy Reich, Michael Ryder, Shawn Thornton and Blake Wheeler, along with defensemen Johnny Boychuck, Ryan Button, Zdeno Chara, Matt Hunwick, Steve Kampfer, Nathan McIver, Adam McQuaid and Jeff Penner and goaltenders Nolan Schaefer and Tim Thomas.
For Group B, the forwards will be Patrice Bergeron, Greg Campbell, Jordan Caron, Jordan Knackstedt, Jeff LoVecchio, Milan Lucic, Brian McGrattan, Daniel Paille, Mark Recchi, Max Sauve, Tyler Seguin and Ryan Spooner. The defensemen will be Yury Alexandrov, Matt Bartkowski, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Andrew Ference, Joe Rullier, Dennis Seidenberg, Mark Stuart and Cody Wild, along with goaltenders Matt Dalton and Tuukka Rask
The players not scheduled to participate in the scrimmage are Adam Courchaine, Craig Cunningham, Ryan Donald, Michael Hutchinson, Kirk MacDonald, Levi Nelson, Tyler Randell, Antoine Roussel and Jordan Smotherman.
Sunday's workouts were the last camp sessions that will be open to the public. Monday's scrimmage and the remaining camp practices will be closed to the public.
