Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

B's begin without Krug and Smith

BOSTON -- Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli had no update Thursday on the contract situations for defenseman Torey Krug and forward Reilly Smith.

The entry-level free agents remain unsigned.

The Bruins completed their off-ice testing and physicals Thursday at TD Garden and will begin on-ice sessions Friday at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

“Won’t comment on negotiations,” Chiarelli said. “We want them in our mix. As it’s been chronicled, we’ve never had that type of player not signed and not come to camp. I’ve been through a few of them in my time, so they’re not very pleasant, but that’s what we have right now.”

Due to salary-cap constraints, the two players may have to settle for one-year deals. But since neither player is signed at this point, it’s likely both are asking for multi-year contracts.

“In an ideal world, to have all your players healthy and present, that would be ideal,” Chiarelli said. “Younger players, older players, if they miss time they’re going to fall behind. It’s unfortunate they’re not here; they’re both good players and both contributed to our success last year and previous. I hope something gets done at some point.”

Chiarelli has made it no secret he will likely trade a defenseman at some point in order to make cap space. He also admitted that the trade talk has been increasing.

“It’s pretty good. It’s been pretty good all summer,” Chiarelli said.

“I’ve said that I’m looking to trade a defenseman, but I’m very eager to see the competition. There are spots. If I had to open with eight D, I can, so there’s no real pressing need to [make a trade] other than it’s not ideal.”

Johnny Boychuk’s name continues to spin the speculation rumor mill, since he has one year and $3.36 million remaining on his contact before becoming an unrestricted free agent. On Thursday, he said he hopes to remain in the “family” and he won’t let any outside distractions affect his play during training camp and the preseason exhibition schedule.

“You just go out there and play your game,” he said. “You can’t let anything on the outside world affect you. You have to play your game, come to camp prepared, and to start the season we’ll be prepared. We have to do our best and hopefully win another Cup.”

An interesting moment of Thursday’s media availability with Chiarelli was when he mentioned there are four open forward spots. Without Smith in the mix, most would think there would be three open positions, but the GM added one more to the scenario.

Ideally, the Bruins would carry seven defensemen on the roster, but Chiarelli has said he would be fine with carrying eight, which would mean one less forward.

Either way, Chiarelli loves the internal competition and he’s looking forward to how it plays out.

“Absolutely,” he said. “The competition, with it comes uncertainty and we’d all like things to be certain, but the cream will rise to the top and I’m looking forward to it. On a smaller level, we had competition last year on a couple of forward spots and we did OK. We’ve got some invites; we’ve got some young players pushing. I look forward to it.”

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