Chiarelli: Savard will get his name on Stanley Cup

BOLTON, MASS. (AP) - Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard will get his name on the Stanley Cup after all.

General manager Peter Chiarelli said Monday at the team’s charity golf tournament that Savard’s name will be inscribed on the trophy with his teammates. Savard played in only 25 games last season because of post-concussion syndrome and missed the entire playoffs as the Bruins won their first NHL title since 1972.

According to the guidelines posted on the NHL website, to get on the Cup a player must play at least 41 games in the regular season or one in the Stanley Cup finals. In 1994, the league added a clause that would allow a team to petition the commissioner for permission to have other players listed in extenuating circumstances.

Chiarelli said the request had been granted.

That’s the good news for Savard, who did not play after a Jan. 22 hit from Colorado’s Matt Hunwick _ Savard’s second concussion in 10 months. Chiarelli said Savard will not play this season, either.

“He’s not in a good spot still. He still has recurring headaches; he still has post-concussion stuff,” Chiarelli said. “He’s not playing this year. Frankly, I don’t think he’ll play again. That’s my opinion, my layperson’s opinion.”

His teammate said they will miss his scoring touch _ he averaged 90 points in the four seasons before he missed large chunks of time with the injuries _ and his presence in the locker room.

“It’s tough to hear, obviously,” Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said. “He’s one of your friends and you want him to do well and come back at 100 percent. I’m happy they’re doing that, not risking his health. That said, it’s sad to see.”

The Bruins had better news on forward Nathan Horton, who was knocked out of the Stanley Cup finals against Vancouver with a bone-jarring _ and late _ hit from Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome in Game 3. Rome was suspended for the rest of the series.

Horton, who did not play again, made an emotional return to the TD Garden in street clothes in Game 6, drawing cheers from the crowd. As his teammates knocked their sticks against the boards, fans chanted his name and waved signs encouraging the Bruins to “Win it for Horton.”

“I feel good,” he told reporters at the golf tournament. “I just started skating, so it hasn’t been that long on the ice. But I’ve been working out for a long time.”

Horton, who was second on the team with 26 goals in the regular season, scored the goals that clinched two seven-game series this postseason _ in the first round against the Montreal Canadiens and in the third against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had said he has not watched replays of the hit since he was in the hospital.

“I get asked a lot how I’m doing and that’s nice,” he said. “But I don’t watch it.”

The Bruins open training camp on Friday, completing the shortest summer in franchise history. Players spent the summer celebrating their championship and hosting the Stanley Cup in their hometowns.

Defenseman Johnny Boychuk said he brought the Cup to Children’s Hospital in Edmonton, and to his parents’ house. Although he was used to being recognized in Boston, he said, he was also stopped on the street in Edmonton, and by the manager at the local grocery store there.

“You want to kind of keep the party going,” forward Milan Lucic said. “But there is a time that you need to come back and start focusing on next season. obviously, that point is now.”

At a “State of the Bruins” town hall with season ticket-holders on Monday night, owner Jeremy Jacobs said there’s no reason the team can’t repeat.

“A person once said, ’Winning isn’t everything.’ I don’t think that person every lifted that Cup,” owner Jeremy Jacobs told the crowd at the TD Garden. “Everybody loved this year. It was spectacular. And hopefully we’re able to deliver on it. We’ve got the same team, the same organization. They know what it takes to win now.”

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AP freelancer Matt Kalman contributed to this story from Boston.

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