Ryder sets his goals

Newcomer wants to regain touch

WILMINGTON - For three of the seven games in last season's Bruins-Montreal playoff prizefight, Michael Ryder watched his future teammates from the press box.

On Wednesday, during the annual Boston Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament, Ryder got his first up-close view of most of his colleagues since turning in bleu, blanc, et rouge for black and gold.

"Want to get off to a good start and get back into it," said Ryder, who took a quick twirl around the Ristuccia Arena ice yesterday. "Last year was a tough year. But now it's a new team, fresh start. Just have to make sure to work hard and get back to where I was."

In his high-flying days with the Canadiens in 2005-06 and 2006-07, Ryder mostly rode shotgun with Christopher Higgins and Saku Koivu, netting 30 goals in both seasons. But after a 14-goal fizzle in 2007-08, Ryder was left out of Montreal's plans.

For his new employer, he is expected to skate on the No. 1 line with Marc Savard and be the go-to gunner on the top power-play unit. He was put in neither situation last season by Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau.

"Pretty much the ice time," explained Ryder of his production drop-off. "I never really spoke to anybody about what was going on. That was it."

Ryder averaged only 13:14 of ice time per game last season, including 2:07 per match on the power play.

When Claude Julien, Ryder's three-time former coach (junior, AHL, NHL), talked about the right wing's game, he said the sniper needs to feel like a valuable core player.

"It's good to know that somebody has confidence in you as a player," Ryder confirmed. "I think it helps on the ice with the confidence level."

On Monday, Ryder may have a shot at playing against his old team when the Bruins face off against the Canadiens at the Halifax Metro Centre in Nova Scotia.

"He's worked hard," Julien said. "He's shown up here in good shape. He's looking forward to making a good first impression."

Slow and steady

While Ryder may make his Boston debut Monday, Zdeno Chara and Shane Hnidy probably won't be in the lineup.

Chara (shoulder) and Hnidy (knee) required offseason surgery. The defensemen have been skating during informal sessions and are scheduled to be on the ice for today's official opening of camp at TD Banknorth Garden. But the bosses will be in no rush to place Chara and Hnidy in game action.

"We'll keep an eye on him as far as the progression goes," Julien said of Chara. "Will he play the first game? I doubt it. But after that it will be a day-to-day situation. He's feeling pretty good. We want to make sure we don't push the issue. Everything is great with him. He's gone through a season-ending operation that requires some time. He's feeling pretty good. The trainers and medical staff seem very optimistic with what they've seen. So does he. I think it's just a matter of time with Z."

On the other hand, Patrice Bergeron will be free to play in any of the eight exhibition games after missing most of last season with a concussion.

"Right now, he's definitely done with the doctors," Julien said. "Everything is at 100 percent in that regard. Now it becomes a situation where we've got to put him in games and he's got to feel his way through. Part of it will be him. The other part will be what I see from him."

Big 10

Ten rookies will skate with the veterans today: Andrew Bodnarchuk, Zach Hamill, Jordan Knackstedt, Mikko Lehtonen, Brad Marchand, Matt Marquardt, Jeff Penner, Kevin Regan, Maxime Sauve, and Blake Wheeler . . . Julien said the Bruins will bring approximately 45 players to Halifax . . . Assistant general manager Jim Benning said it was too early to single out any youngsters who have emerged like Milan Lucic did in camp last year. "Milan came to training camp and we really didn't have him penciled in to make the team," Benning said. "As camp progressed, he played so well that he kind of forced our hand to make room for him. If there's anybody in this camp who forces our hand to make the team, that's what we'll do." . . . The veterans underwent fitness testing at the Garden. "Guys are in pretty good shape," said Julien. "I don't know how much time we'll need for practice and conditioning drills. Mostly the next couple days, part of it's getting into right habits again with work ethic, competing, and battling a little bit. At the same time, we'll be giving guys as much information as we can so we can go into exhibition games knowing what we have to do out there with the forecheck, defensive zone, regroups, and everything else."