A better butterfly effect

If just a few twists to the story line didn't take place, Bob Mason would still have Manny Fernandez under his watch.

But the quirks began for Fernandez and the Minnesota Wild in 2006, when Josh Harding pulled his groin prior to the penultimate exhibition game, prompting the club to retain Niklas Backstrom, once destined for their AHL affiliate in Houston. They continued when Fernandez sprained his left knee, then kept tweaking the injury, allowing Backstrom to swipe the No. 1 goaltending job.

"Backstrom would have been sent to Houston," said Mason, the Wild's goaltending coach. "It's 99 percent sure that Harding would have been backing up Manny. Then when Backstrom started playing well, we thought of maybe rotating the two or getting Nik some games in Houston. But he did so well in practice that we kept Nik here."

And there is where Backstrom and Harding remain -- both recipients of new contracts this offseason -- while Fernandez has landed in Boston.

"He's talented. Very talented," said Mason, a former AHL teammate (Halifax Citadels) of Bruins coach Claude Julien and Providence boss Scott Gordon. "He's a guy that can win games by himself when he's got his game going. He's a very confident guy. He's competitive. He might be a little hard on himself at times. He wants to be good -- a lot. He's got a lot of inner drive and a great amount of desire."

Fernandez is scheduled to be in Boston sometime this week and might cross paths with incumbents Tim Thomas and Hannu Toivonen, who have both been working out at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington.

Boston goalie coach Bob Essensa, who plans to travel to Calgary with Thomas, Toivonen, and Tuukka Rask for a goaltending clinic next month, isn't sure if Fernandez, partly because of his recovery from the knee injury, will join them in Alberta. But after following his career and studying him on video, Essensa believes he's got a good base of knowledge about his newest charge.

"I wouldn't really call him the most compact butterfly," said Essensa. "He's certainly one of the more athletic butterflies. If I'm picking, I'd like to have them both, but I'd choose athletic over compact."

Mason said that in his five years of working with Fernandez, the goalie's technique and confidence improved. Mason described Fernandez as playing a hybrid style, capable of standing up or dropping into an athletic butterfly for saves.

Mason referred to 2005-06, when Fernandez went 30-18-7 with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage, as one of his most proficient seasons. According to Mason, Fernandez played at the top of the crease, tracked the puck well, positioned himself cleanly for first shots, and was efficient at steering away rebounds and repositioning himself for follow-up opportunities.

"If you're confident, you're not afraid of being up too high. When you're not confident, you're afraid of being too high," Mason said. "You're not sure where to go and you're chasing the puck. The good guys, when they're on their game, seem to beating the pass to where it's going to go. They're already there. But if you're late on the pass, you try to find it, you start chasing it all over the place, and you get out of position."

Mason said one thing he wanted Fernandez to work on was his butterfly. Mason instructed Fernandez to pinch his knees together tighter, allowing him to fan his pads wider. However, Fernandez preferred to get lower and not clamp his knees together as tightly.

"He likes to get low," said Mason. "He thinks he's quicker, but then he exposes more net. You've got to get your chest up so you're covering up high. But he's a smart goaltender. He works on his game more than people think he does. The biggest thing is that when's on, he's really reading the play well."

Fernandez doesn't have many technical similarities to Thomas, who plays an aggressive but unorthodox style. But Thomas is one of the more emotional netminders, a trait he'll share with his new colleague.

"Manny's a fiery guy," said Mason. "He's a little more emotional. Much more aggressive. Personality-wise, he's more aggressive than Nik. That's part of his game. Maybe he needs to get a little quieter in a certain part of his game. When you're quiet, you're real square, waiting for the play, and a lot cleaner on first shots."

No word yet on how Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli will resolve the traffic jam in goal. Because of his age (23) and salary ($532,000), Toivonen might be the more attractive player on the trade market.

But unless the Boston defense fixes its act, the Bruins might need all three in the net at the same time to take on trigger-happy shooters. In 2006-07, the Bruins gave up a league-worst 33.5 shots per game.

Conversely, behind the famous trap of coach Jacques Lemaire (also Fernandez's uncle), Wild goaltenders saw 28.8 shots per game.

"We certainly want to take care of our zone, and it was probably more on the goaltender-friendly side of things than what Boston was last year," said Mason. "But there were nights when we struggled on the road and the goalies had to be very good. That's when the goaltending had to be rock solid and give us a chance to win."

Little 'off' left in offseason

This may be the thick of golf season, but for the Bruins, the lure of the links must remain silenced for at least part of the day.

"Right now, it's a grind. It's a real grind, this part," said Bruins strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides. "It doesn't get any easier, but it's less volume."

According to the team's offseason workout plan, the players should have concluded the third week of their current four-week block, which Whitesides calls the strength phase.

Tim Thomas, Hannu Toivonen, Phil Kessel, and Mark Mowers worked out at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington last week, while the rest of the players should be following the same plan -- they can view instructions and sample workouts on a secure website -- at their home bases.

The strength phase includes the following high-end anaerobic work: plyometrics, track sprints, core lifting, and, according to Whitesides, "every kind of squat you can think of." They'll then taper off for one week, get back into a three-week block that emphasizes explosive power, then slow down and get back on the ice.

"You taper it down so you peak at the end," Whitesides said. "Your quicker, faster sprint stuff is right when you're coming into camp. What you're trying to do is take them from a point of building up through the summer to where they're peaking, they're most fit, and they're moving the best so that when you get them onto the ice, everything's fast, everything's quick, and everything's high tempo."

A long way toward helping others

Andrew Ference, an athlete ambassador for Right To Play, the Toronto-based humanitarian organization, recently returned to North America from Tanzania.

Ference, along with Florida Panthers defenseman Steve Montador, were shadowed by NESN reporter Rob Simpson and videographer Pat Gamere. Their chronicles of the Boston blue liner's work will run on NESN's "Rubber Biscuit" in two installments next month and on the NHL Network.

"Awesome group of guys and we were all on the same page, so it was great," Ference, whose diary will be posted on bostonbruins.com, wrote in an e-mail. "Went to many schools and orphanages where Right To Play has programs set up. Spent some time in Dar es Salaam and the rest in the Serengeti. Kids were amazing, so bright and willing to learn, just need a chance."

Simpson noted that because there are few mirrors available, some of the children they filmed saw themselves for the first time when Gamere showed them clips on his camera's display panel. Simpson also recalled that Montador came close to stepping on a poisonous snake one day, which would not have been a good way for the Panther to end up on injured reserve.

Etc.

Next big thing
With 2005 top pick Sidney Crosby signing a five-year extension worth $8.7 million per season last Tuesday, the next big contract projects to be that of Alex Ovechkin, the No. 1 selection in 2004. The Washington winger, who's entering the final year of his entry-level deal, isn't the all-around talent Crosby is, but should be in a similar salary bracket. And even if Ovechkin's contract doesn't reach Crosby's level, the Russian might take home more cash than Sid the Kid. Ovechkin negotiates his own contracts since firing agent Don Meehan last November, meaning he won't have to fork over a percentage of his deal.

Paying their way
Brock Bradford (Boston College) and Kevin Regan (University of New Hampshire) took every precaution last week to retain their amateur eligibility. While his fellow Bruins prospects had the team pick up the tab for their week in the area, Bradford, who resides in Burnaby, British Columbia, paid for his flight and hotel room. Regan lives in South Boston and had a shorter commute to Wilmington for the team's development camp than Bradford, but to save some dough, the netminder spent his nights at home instead of in the team hotel. They even took care to pay for their takeout lunches during the week and hot dogs at Fenway Park Thursday. "You never want to chance it," said Bradford, who will be a junior this fall.

Time for some trades, salary dumps, or creative accounting at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers stamped the biggest free agency exclamation point by signing Chris Drury and Scott Gomez (combined annual cap hit of $14.4 million). Then last Wednesday, they approached the cap by signing franchise goalie Henrik Lundqvist, arguably the team's most important player, to a one-year, $4.25 million deal, and 38-year-old forward Brendan Shanahan. Payroll stands to rise even more, given the upcoming arbitration hearings for forwards Sean Avery and Marcel Hossa. The Blueshirts could save some bucks by promoting 20-year-old defenseman Marc Staal to the big club. But they'll most likely need to deal some veterans, such as forward Matt Cullen ($2.8 million) or old friend Paul Mara ($3 million).

Tommy Cross originally planned to play junior hockey for the United States Hockey League's Ohio Junior Blue Jackets while remaining enrolled for his senior year at the Westminster School in 2007-08. But Cross, the Bruins' second-round pick in last month's draft , said the Blue Jackets weren't thrilled with his plan of attending school in Connecticut during the week, then flying to Columbus for games on the weekend. Cross, who will head to Boston College in 2008-09, said he's exploring alternatives, including joining an Eastern Junior Hockey League team. "I would have flown out on Friday after school, then come home on Sunday," said Cross, who's rehabilitating his right knee (torn meniscus) and didn't skate during development camp. "But we'll figure something else out."

Waltham's Ryan Mula wrapped up his first development camp, spending the week with the Anaheim Ducks and their hotshot prospects, including forward Bobby Ryan, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2005 draft. Mula, a 21-year-old goalie, held his own and is looking to carry some momentum into the fall, when he'll be a freshman at Merrimack. Otherwise, 2006-07 wasn't exactly a storybook season. After a normal 2005-06 stopping pucks for the Ontario Provincial Junior Hockey League's Lindsay Muskies, he bounced from the Indianapolis Ice (USHL), Green Bay Gamblers (USHL), back to Indianapolis, Wichita Falls Wildcats (NAHL), and Alaska Avalanche (North American Hockey League), all in search of playing time. But Anaheim general manager Brian Burke got wind of Mula's play, inviting the former Globe All-Scholastic to the West Coast. "He loved it," father Jack Mula, the New England Patriots executive (general counsel/player personnel), said of his son's showing in camp. "He was pretty psyched. He's happy he had that experience and saw what the pros were like."

By re-signing Jeremy Reich ($487,500 cap hit) and Dennis Wideman ($600,000) last week, the Bruins' cap number is $46.38 million for 22 players (13 forwards, 6 defensemen, 3 goalies) . . . Despite rumors that the Philadelphia Flyers want James Van Riemsdyk, the No. 2 overall pick last month, to play major junior, the big-body winger will land in Durham, N.H., this fall, according to UNH coach Dick Umile. "He's signed his letter of intent and he'll be leading a very strong freshman class," said Umile, whose prospect will most likely not stay four years. "You don't know what tomorrow brings. We'll deal with it as the time comes." . . . Starting next month, Bruins prospects Zach Hamill, Milan Lucic, and Brad Marchand will represent Canada in the Canada/Russia Super Series, which features the top under-20 talent of the countries. The threesome reports to Toronto Aug. 20 and departs for Russia the following day . . . Although Cory Schneider signed a three-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks earlier this month, skipping his senior season at BC, don't rule out GM Dave Nonis dealing the 21-year-old goalie. Schneider should be the No. 1 netminder this year for Manitoba, Vancouver's AHL affiliate, but he's too talented to serve as an afterthought to Roberto Luongo, like Curtis Sanford is expected to be in 2007-08. In 2006-07, Dany Sabourin, Luongo's backup, appeared in only nine games.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at FShinzawa@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.