Fresh Links: NEW FRIENDS! Edition

So a few weeks ago, the Washington Capitals announced their affiliation with the Reading Royals. Cool, except that meant that the Bruins were no longer affiliated with the ECHL team in Reading. Lame. The Bruins had had that affiliation for a few years, and primarily used it to stash goalies and Ryan Button and guys that were either recovering from injury trying to make it back to the P-Bruins or guys that were just not quite good enough to make the AHL team yet.

Today, the South Carolina Stingrays announced that they're the new Bruins affiliate! They were with the Capitals before this, so essentially the Bruins and Caps just swapped ECHL affiliates. No telling where the Leafs, who shared the Royals with the Bruins before this all happened, will choose to affiliate next. To keep track of the baby baby Bruins, you can follow the Stingrays on twitter or check out their website here.

After the jump, Shane Doan gives another deadline, NHL 13 reviews, and Steve Staios makes an announcement...

Bruins News:

• Here's the Stingrays' press release. [ECHL]
• Peter Chiarelli says that the current roster might stay as is for camp. That's pretty ok. [ESPN]
• Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid are cleared for contact! [Mass Live]

NHL News:

• Steve Staios announced his retirement today. He'll take a position with the Maple Leafs staff. [USA Today]
• Shane Doan has set yet another deadline for the Coyotes. [Canoe]
• One of the big updates to NHL 13 will be its overhauled trade interface. [Game Informer]
• Jay Harrison and Zach Boychuk signed new deals with the Hurricanes yesterday. [SI]
• Kenny Reiter, who won an NCAA championship with UMD, has a pretty interesting story. [Trib Live]
• In case you missed it earlier, we all love the Federal League: one team will play all its games outdoors this year. [Puck Daddy]