Bruins Latest: TD Garden, Divisions & Hutton

Let’s take a look at some odds and ends as the Bruins continue going through training camp.

The first sign that Boston Bruins hockey is right around the corner began with training camp kicking off Monday at Warrior Ice Arena. On Tuesday, the bull gang at the TD Graden put down the Bruins home sheet of ice.

https://twitter.com/tdgarden/status/1346490642109706242

Boston opens the season with two games at New Jersey against the Devils on Jan. 14 and 16. Two days later, they make a stop in New York to play the Islanders, before they return back to Boston for their home opener on Jan. 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

It has taken a lot of work from the NHL and its teams to be able to get the season started. To see the ice finally be put down at the TD Garden is a great sight and a long time coming. The last game the Bruins played at TD Garden was on March  7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

New Division Names

For the second straight season, the NHL will embark on a shortened season. This season will be 56 games for each team, but with new divisional realignments to limit travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Bruins will see all the Northeast clubs in the regular-season.

Along with realigned divisions comes new division names. All the Canadian teams were put in the North Division because of travel restrictions at the U.S./Canadian border. The teams in the United States were put in three realigned divisions, the East (which includes the Bruins), Central, and West.

Just when you thought that you had the new division names down, on Tuesday, the NHL threw another wrench into the new names. ESPN reported that the NHL sold its naming rights to sponsors for the new divisions this season.

The North Division will now be named Scotia, the West is Honda, the Central is Discover and the East will be MassMutual. Can’t wait to see which team gets to raise the “MassMutual Division” championship banner opening night next October. We could be so lucky to see that hanging from the TD Garden rafters.

Here’s hoping to the division names and alignments returning back to normal for the 2021-22 season.

Bruins Still Linked to Hutton

According to Elliotte Friedman, he expects left-handed defensemen, Ben Hutton, to find a home soon with the Bruins still showing interest and now the Devils appear to be linked to him.

Last season with the Los Angeles Kings, he had four goals and 12 assists in 65 games. He signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract in free agency with the Kings before the 2019-20 season. According to CapFriendly.com, the Bruins still have $2.9 million projected space remaining, which would be plenty of room to add Hutton.

There is no question that general manager Don Sweeney would look to add to the left side of the defense, whether it is through a trade or free agency.