Ryan Spooner and Niklas Svedberg did all they could to make the Bruins’ opening night roster. In the end, however, those performances weren’t enough to overcome some tricky roster issues.
Spooner and Svedberg are headed back to Providence, the club announced Saturday morning. Also being sent back to Providence are Matt Fraser and Matt Lindblad. The moves leave the Bruins with 24 players — 14 forwards, eight defensemen and two goalies.
Those roster moves mean that forwards Jordan Caron and Nick Johnson will be sticking around to do battle for the 13th forward position after being on the bubble. The moves also mean that Chad Johnson will break camp with the big club, indicating he’ll be Tuukka Rask‘s backup.
“Chad needs waivers; Nik doesn’t,” Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said Friday, according to the team’s website. “They both had strong camps. Just on a per minute played basis, Nik played better, but Chad played well, that game in Detroit he played well. So it gives me a comfort they played well over the course of camp. That means we have some depth there.”
Caron, Nick Johnson and Chad Johnson would have all had to clear waivers to be assigned to Providence, which likely played a role in making the Boston roster.
“It’s a tough decision because there’s three or four guys who had good camps,” Chiarelli said. “I know there are two guys who you’ve been focusing on, [Nick] Johnson and Caron, and I think they both played well.”
“Both defensive responsibility, they both have that size, they both have that experience; one guy has more than the other. Style of play is a little bit different, so that’s tough. That player doesn’t play often, but with injuries, may have to get in there.”
