Fresh Links: New Roles Edition

The Bruins host the Panthers tonight at TD Garden, 7:00 PM. Don't forget to find your way down to your local polling place and VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

• Once and future Bostonian Shawn Thornton will be welcomed back to Garden ice. [ESPN]. It is good to set goals, and Thornton has just one for this evening... [NESN] ...although he claims he simply hopes "they don't boo me out of there." [WEEI]

• Meanwhile, Chris Kelly finds himself in an unexpected role owing to the injury to David Krejci. [TauntonGazette]
• A renewed contract for Claude Julien rewards his effectiveness as a sort of "shepherd" to a team currently in roster flux. [NHL]
• Patrice Bergeron has been on board long enough to have seen his coach's success in player development. [MassLive]
• Julien remains hungry for the Bruins' ultimate goal even as he must work creatively within cap constraints. David Krejci remained off ice, but Kevan Miller has begun skating again. [BostonHerald]
• David Pastrnak has been named the AHL Rookie of the Month for October. [WEEI]
• Here's the (mostly) good and bit of bad from the Providence Bruins' weekend action. [ProvidenceJournal]
• Matt Fraser not only likes Chipotle, he can make a mean poutine! Doen't his voice sound just like Tim Thomas'? [YouTube]
• The Panthers have enjoyed some success of late with Roberto Luongo in net. [FoxSports]

Elsewhere around the rink:

• If you can't beat em'... former enforcers may not be landing on-ice jobs around the NHL, but are attracting interest from Stephane Quintal and the Department of Player Safety. [Sportsnet]
• British soldiers managed to find time for a game of hockey on the frozen Rhine river during WWI, drawing a crowd of German spectators. [PuckStruck]
• You can't do that... an AHL goalie took a calculated risk, flouted the rules, and won the battle. His team ultimately lost the war. [CBCSports]
• Here's gallery of celebrities sporting NHL (and Team Finland) licensed merchandise. [GreatestHockeyLegends]
• As thoughts turn to which teams will be statistically in the playoff mix by Thanksgiving, the Bruins are not in the current top 5 ranked teams, although they thankfully are not among the bottom-feeders, either. [Grantland]
• Sportsnet presents The Man Behind the Mask: Jacques Plante, who was responsible for the evolution of the goalie mask (and great uncle of Mrs. Nathan Horton, BTW...) [YouTube]
• If your name is Vezina, you had darned well better be a good goalkeeper... [NationalPost]
• The NHL is working with a software firm on ways to incorporate more analytics. Also, why a team takes a BIG risk playing a tired goalie. [GlobeAndMail]
• Speaking of numbers... statistical analysis of the effects of multiple Corsi events, leaving netminders little time to re-position themselves between shots. [Puckology]
• Hookers and blow? 19 NHL players were among investors who lost their money in an allegedly fraudulent real estate scheme, and now the principal, a onetime employee of Derek Sanderson who is alleged to have spent the money on himself, claims he was actually the victim! [Fortune]
• More hookers and blow? Michael Del Zotto gets smacked down by a porn star. [NYDailyNews]
• Living in a rural state, this UMaine assistant coach sees his pilot's license as another effective recruiting tool. [BangorDailyNews]