"During the course of two days in March 2010, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli acquired defensemen Steven Kampfer and Matt Bartkowski, both still in college, in separate trades.

Chiarelli spoke at that time about trying to replenish his organization's depth on defense below the NHL level.

Well, it was apparent during the five days of the Bruins' development camp at Ristuccia Arena that the team has plenty of talented defensemen on hand to help out the next couple of seasons and beyond.

Some of the best performers at the camp were blueliners — Tommy Cross, David Warsofsky, Marc Cantin, Ryan Button and this year's first-round draft pick, Dougie Hamilton.

"We feel that we've (replenished the 'D' corps). We've got a pretty strong group now," Chiarelli said yesterday upon completion of the camp. "I talked earlier about Ryan Button, and he acquitted himself well at the end of the year in Providence and he's showing improvement here. You've got Tommy Cross .?.?. he's had his knee problems, but I thought his skating and his mobility was the best that I've seen in a while. Then you've got Warsofsky .?.?. you can see his skill out there, you can see his stretch passes. He's an incredible stretch passer."