Bruins shaping up as training camp nears 2019-11-11 Bruins brass sat down with all of their free agents and prospects at the table at a Chuck E Cheese party room to discuss the objective of signing contracts and staying together to get the ultimate prize in the future. "We picked this location because hockey is fun. It's a game. What better place to portray that we want our players to still have fun and feel like kids when they play the game they love." While GM O'Blenes and assistant Vlad Dovinowski chomped on pizza with the players they managed to get everyone to sign on the dotted line. Eichel, then Gallagher and Miles Wood, followed by defenceman Noah Hanifin and Brett Pesce. Without hesitation they enjoyed the tasty cheese slices while putting pen to paper. "We helped lock up the core of this organization for years to come and can now focus on adding to that core to make us a perennial contender." Setting an example for the younger players, they were eager to sign with the organization on a standard ELC and are happy to start their professional careers. While pizza may not be a part of the proper diet, it is good to have cheat meals now and then. Keep the inner kid coming out and having fun. Assistant Dovinowski is known for his antics and party background from his days in the minor leagues, but his track record for acquiring and scouting talent out is second to none. Rumour has it, he once organized a draft party in Montreal that included strippers, lots of alcohol and drugs while making his selections via conference call to the table on the draft floor. Panthers GM Jeff Kuntz remembers some of those days well from the minor leagues. "One such...err...rumour...was the time Vlad was banned from travelling with the team on raod trips unless we were headed right back home on the bus after the game. No hotel stays, ever, when it came to Vlad. But one time our front office had a flu bug going around and we simply had no other choice but to send him on a 4-game trip. Half our team got arrested for being drunk and disorderly in Greenville, and we eventually located the other half of the team in a -- ahem-- massage parlor in Charlotte, and keep in mind this was supposed to be a DIRECT bus trip with no stops whatsoever to play our first game in Cincinnati. So we went 0-4 on the trip, but 2 guys got married, the whole team got to witness our broadcaster finally "become a man", we racked up a 5-figure bill at a strip club in Fort Wayne (which Vlad paid for with the owner's card) and we signed Vlad as the back-up goalie for our last game of the trip after we thought Kipper went AWOL but he was really still stuck in one of the overhead compartments of the sleeper bus after Vlad ordered us to put him there as a punishment for being sober, and we all forgot. When the bus pulled in after the trip, we never saw Vlad again." On Dovinowski having a keen eye for talent, Kuntz believe it's either that or he was able to blackmail the GM of his current team in to hiring him, because Vlad not only knows about EVERY bad situation that every team exec has ever been in -- but usually it's because Vlad was there for it to partake in the fun. Being able to keep the party at Chuck E Cheese was the best thing we could for both sides. The players enjoyed the atmosphere and pizza, while Vlad was able to get his minor fix of a good time without going overboard. As training camp approaches GM O'Blenes continues to search for the additional pieces to fill out the roster for the upcoming 2019-20 season. There are openings in net and on the wing in the bottom six, so there is lots of opportunity for someone to come in and play some important minutes.