Team analysts

Before travel by charter came into vogue during the 1990s, the Bruins, like most NHL clubs, traveled via commercial flights. Boston to Winnipeg, with a changeover in Minneapolis-St. Paul, was always particularly delightful, especially with the requisite snow delay at MSP. Rather than hustle off to a charter flight after the game, either to the next city or to return home, clubs routinely stayed another hotel night in the cities where they played. "Our rule then was that the entire team met after the game, usually at a bar, or, if nothing was open, back at the hotel," recalled ex-Bruins captain John Bucyk. According to the Chief, all players had to be on hand for 30 minutes, and they spent the time going over the goods and bads of the game just played. "And we were brutally honest with each other," he said. "If a guy needed to be doing something better, pick his game up, we told him. And we also told him, 'Hey, if you can't take it, guess what, you don't belong here.' We were a pretty tight bunch, and I know that had a lot to do with it. Thirty minutes, that's all. Then it was up to you -- stick around, or go visit with friends or family. But that first half-hour was mandatory. Hey, guys looked forward to it. You went, and you went as a team."

NHL bylaws do not allow unsigned European prospects to come to terms with NHL clubs after June 1, thus eliminating them from playing in the NHL the following season. (For example, Europeans not under contract as of June 1, 2006, were not allowed to suit up over here during 2006-07.) However, according to one informed source, that bylaw might soon be rewritten, and a European left unsigned as of June 1 could be signed and brought over before the conclusion of the NHL season. One important caveat: The player's European club must have completed its season. The Bruins have a number of unsigned European players, including top goalie prospect Tuukka Rask. Acquired in the swap last June that sent Andrew Raycroft to Toronto, Rask has until June 1 to sign with Boston or he would reenter the June draft.

Erik Cole, last seen in excruciating hip pain when Carolina visited the Garden Feb. 8, was placed on injured reserve for at least two weeks. Within 48 hours, Carolina GM Jim Rutherford swapped a fifth-round pick (2008) to Columbus to acquire ex-Bruin Anson Carter for some protection on Cole's vacant wing. Carter, due approximately 25 percent of his $2.5 million deal, was instrumental in Boston's most recent playoff series victory, potting the double-overtime winner against the Hurricanes in Game 5 of the first round in 1999. Two nights later, on May 2, the Bruins clinched the series with a 2-0 win. Carter now has been traded seven times since entering the league with the Capitals in 1996-97. Among current NHLers, only the Islanders' Mike Sillinger, dealt 10 times since entering in 1990-91, has been sent out of Dodge more often.

Jack Edwards, NESN's play-by-play man when the Bruins are on the road, was at a Tampa sports bar Thursday night, watching the Buffalo-Ottawa game on TV, when the 12-man brawl broke out between the Sabres and Senators. The next morning, in vivid detail, Edwards replayed the entire encounter, punch for punch, for anyone within earshot as he stood just outside the lobby of the club's hotel. "The whole thing was fantastic!" exclaimed Edwards. "The place I was watching, everyone was screaming, including me. And just like no one left the building in Buffalo, no one left the bar, either."

Two nights before standing behind the Ottawa bench in Buffalo, where he traded verbal shots with Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, Senators coach Bryan Murray, 64, directed his 600th NHL win, a 4-3 defeat of the Oilers. Only four other coaches have cracked the 600-win plateau: Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour, Dick Irvin, and Pat Quinn. Murray began his NHL run in the fall of 1981, working the Capitals bench for GM David Poile (now the boss in Nashville).

Former Bruin Mike Knuble, who accidentally clanged heads recently with the Rangers' Brendan Shanahan (now on IR with a concussion), finally underwent surgery last Wednesday to repair his fractured right cheekbone and orbital bone. Small surgical plates were required to mend both. Only a couple of days after the matching head-butts, the Bruins were in Philadelphia, and an acquaintance from Knuble's days in Boston said the big winger's face was so swollen that he initially walked by without recognizing him. Provided there are no complications, Knuble could suit up for the Flyers with a couple of weeks left in the regular season.

As of Friday afternoon, Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said he was leaning toward making another deal prior to Tuesday's trade deadline. "I think I will," he said, "But I'm not sure. We are still a long shot to make the playoffs, but there is a sense among the players that they have an opportunity." Chiarelli would not identify what need he would like to fill, nor would he hint at what he was being asked to surrender. One rumor circulating Friday afternoon, emanating from Toronto (hockey's trade mecca), rekindled the prospect that Brad Boyes would end up in Pittsburgh.

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.