.
When the lockout ended, Caron remained in a Spoked-P, an injured player and an afterthought.
After the Chris Bourque Experiment came to an end Thursday when Bourque was placed on waivers and ultimately sent back to the AHL, Caron will finally get that opportunity to prove he can stick in the NHL.
“I wanted to come here this year and keep going,” Caron said. “Obviously it didn’t go that way. Going down to Providence, I wasn’t that happy about it, but there was nothing I could do. But now I’m here and it’s a new start. I have to use this next month or so.”
It’s unclear when Caron will enter the lineup. Coach Claude Julien said he hasn’t decided who will play Saturday vs. Philadelphia.
Caron has played better of late with Providence, recording seven points in his last nine games there.
“From what I’ve been told, he’s been pretty good the last five, six games,” Julien said. “He’s a player that’s been here, got some experience. You send a guy down, bring a guy up. We like him on our team and we’re going to give those guys an opportunity to show that they belong here or they don’t.”
Caron got in 48 games last season and had some solid stretches, including seven points in four games in early March. He was out of the lineup for the first five games of the playoffs, but returned for the final two.
. He’s done that and it’s giving him that opportunity to prove he can do that.”
SODERBERG CHATTER: The Bruins may bring Carl Soderberg to the team once the Swedish Elite League season ends.
Soderberg has been Bruins’ property since 2007, but has chosen to stay in Sweden since then.
At this point it’s not definite that he would come to North America, meaning Julien is not counting on anything.
“Pretty well been a name on a list,” Julien said of Soderberg. “I’ve got the reports on him like everyone else. When you have a player coming, you’d like to have some information on him. So that’s all I had on him.”
Milan Lucic said it’s Soderberg’s loss to not be in Black and Gold.
“We have a good time,” Lucic said. “He’s missing out.”
LUCIC LIKES REALIGNMENT: Vancouver native Lucic is a fan of the realignment that is expected to go into effect next season.
The plan calls for new divisional alignments and home-and-homes with other team in the league.
It means the Bruins will face Western Conference teams — like the Canucks — twice a season.
“I never understood why we went to Chicago every other year, and even Detroit every other year,” Lucic said. “I never understood that where it’s an Original 6 battle, why we didn’t play them twice. It’s going to happen next year so it’s going to be cool to go into every building every year.
“I know the fans are going to enjoy it, and for me I’ll get to go home every year, even though they don’t like me as much there anymore. To be able to go home and play every year and play in front of my family in Vancouver will be fun.”
Lucic is not as big a fan of the new playoff format, which will be all within the division for the first two rounds, similar to the old Adams Division days.
“I’m kind of on the fence with that,” Lucic said. “I like it for the first round, but after that I think it should be reset. It’s going to increase rivalries, whether we have rivalries with them or not. More likely than not it’s going to be an Original 6 team in our division, whether it’s Detroit or us or Montreal or Toronto. It’ll make for some interesting outcomes coming up the next two years.”
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