Tenkrat wants return flight

WILMINGTON -- On Monday night, after end-of-the-year interviews with coach Dave Lewis and general manager Peter Chiarelli, Petr Tenkrat will take off from Logan Airport for his native Czech Republic, for which he'll play in the upcoming world championships.

It could be Tenkrat's final flight out of Boston as a Bruin.

The 29-year-old winger is one of six players (Joey MacDonald, Bobby Allen, Jeremy Reich, Jeff Hoggan, and Jason York are the others) who will become unrestricted free agents July 1.

Tenkrat (8-5--13 in 63 games), most recently the left wing alongside Phil Kessel and Brandon Bochenski, acknowledged it was a tough season, beginning when he was placed on waivers and sent to Providence.

Despite the rocky start and the disappointment of the club's performance, Tenkrat voiced his desire to remain in a Boston sweater.

"I hope I can stay here for next year," said Tenkrat, who earned $525,000 this season. "It's a great organization and a great town. I hope I can come back next year and have a better season."

Tenkrat was acquired last June when the Bruins wheeled their 2007 seventh-round pick to the Maple Leafs for his rights. Tenkrat had spent the last four seasons in Europe and hadn't played in the NHL since 2001-02, when he was with the Predators.

Tenkrat never opened eyes in training camp and was placed on waivers at the start of the season.

"I was [questioning] myself at times at the beginning of the season," he said. "It's hard to explain why I didn't feel comfortable. Maybe one of the reasons was because I played four years in Europe. It's a totally different kind of hockey. I had to learn again the style of the NHL. That took a little while."

Tenkrat was recalled from Providence Nov. 11. That night, he scored in a 4-3 win over the Senators.

Since then, Tenkrat's skated on the No. 2 power-play unit. He's played as high as the first line and as low as the fourth. Lewis even used Tenkrat on the penalty kill, a duty that gave the winger a midseason lift.

"Penalty killing was something that definitely helped my confidence," said Tenkrat. "I hope I proved something."

At his best, Tenkrat was a complementary winger who used his speed to create scoring chances. But like many of the Bruins, Tenkrat was inconsistent during even-strength play, failing to generate sustained offense.

While Tenkrat is a long shot to return to Boston, he'd like to play in the NHL next season instead of signing with a European club.

"He was very determined to come back and be a part of this team," said Lewis. "That says that he's got some character."

When he arrived in Boston last summer, Lewis knew only one player: Mark Mowers.

"Now I know [Patrice Bergeron]," said Lewis. "I know Marco Sturm. I know Zdeno Chara. I know Glen Murray. I know what they bring. I know what they need to improve. I know what the group needs to improve. For me, I'm ahead of the curve of where I was last year. We've tried a couple different systems, and I think we can do some things differently there that could be a real positive to the team. We've learned a lot as coaches."

Lewis said the basic Boston system -- defense first, simple passes out of the zone, safe forechecking -- requires some adjustment because of the lack of results. But he isn't thinking about rewriting his philosophies.

"When you put in another system, that doesn't mean you're releasing this system," said Lewis. "In Detroit [where he last coached], you had a different system to start the game, different system if you had a lead, different system in the last 10 minutes. We didn't do a lot of that as a team this year because we didn't think we were mature as a team. So now, knowing the personnel and doing that, it will be beneficial to have those different changes in the game."

Hannu Toivonen was assigned yesterday to Providence, where he'll backstop the P-Bruins during the AHL stretch run . . . Andrew Ference (hand) and Mowers (shoulder) didn't practice yesterday. Mowers planned to undergo an MRI today . . . Of the six free agents-to-be, Reich is the likeliest to be re-signed. "He's done probably more than we as a coaching staff thought he could do," said Lewis. "How he supports his teammates, how he tries to change the momentum of the game, how he blocks shots. We understand that he's limited. But his character and his heart are in the right place. That says a lot for a guy. In my book, anyway." . . . NESN will carry the Red Sox game tonight instead of the Bruins' season finale. In Boston, CN8 will pick up the Bruins-Senators game. Check nesn.com for alternative listings.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com.