Petteri Nokelainen

Nokelainen has been consistent both at center and right wing during his 13-game stint in Boston, earning himself a reward. He has shown grittiness as well as a penchant for doing the little things well.

He was promoted full-time to Boston’s third line in Monday’s 3-1 victory over the Islanders.  The speedy forward had been seeing the rare shift on the third line in recent games but received the passing grade and scored a nice goal to thank Julien for the extra ice.

Mark Stuart

Stuart, who started the 06/07 season on the injured list, has made the most of his first full season of work in the NHL this year.   The hard hitting defenseman has played the style Bruins fans have been reading about - a hard hitting, honest, keep it simple game.  Stuart will never break any offensive records in the NHL, but I fully expect Stuart to be the defensive leader of this team in 2-3 years time. 

Vladimir Sobotka

The 20 year old Sobotka projects to be a skill player in the NHL someday - not a grinder.  However, his natural gritty style, has made him an effective 4th line spark player.  His work away from the puck has won coach Claude Julien over, and sent Brandon Bochenski watching from the press box.

The 5′10″ forward has shown no fear in the corners and his play has been earning him more minutes as each game passes.  Sobotka has dressed for 5 games since his recall from Providence, and if he continues his solid efforts, we will be seeing him a lot more on the ice in the coming weeks.

“Sobotka has shown everybody that he fears nothing,” coach Julien raved recently.

Tuukka Rask

Bruins fans thought they would have to wait another year before seeing the skinny kid from Finland between the pipes.  However, an injury to Manny Fernandez accelerated his path to the show.  Rask has started two games over the last couple weeks winning them both - showing management he belongs. 

Rask will return to Providence when Fernandez returns within the next couple weeks, but don’t be surprised if we see Rask again before the end of the season.  For now, Rask would be best situated in Providence where he can carry the load and adapt to the speed the North American game.

Milan Lucic

The big winger has played as well as expected for a 19 year old kid out of Junior.   He’s hit everything in sight and dropped the gloves when the situation has called for it.  Still working on his play away from the puck, the Bruins will bring him along slowly. 

Lucic has shown that he’s much more than a dirty goon on the ice.  Not only do the Bruins brass expect more from him - he demands it from himself.   He’s a kid that wants to learn the game, and has recently been practicing on the ice with one of his hero’s: Bruins VP Cam Neely.   Lucic will continue to see 4th line duty for the remainder of the year, working on various aspects of his game.