Bruins loan Jordan Harris to P-Bruins for conditioning stint

There's no guarantee that it will stay this way (you can say that again, and then another 20 times), but the Bruins are getting close to perfect health on their blue line.

The latest step forward in that regard came Thursday, with confirmation from the Bruins that Jordan Harris will report to AHL Providence on a conditioning loan.

With Harris working his way back from a fractured ankle (suffered in an Oct. 21 game against the Panthers), the long-term injury conditioning loan is perhaps the last step Harris has to go through before rejoining the NHL roster. Harris, whose initial timeline indicated a two-month recovery, has been skating with the club in recent weeks.

In the Boston lineup for five games this season, Harris had posted one goal and one assist, along with three blocks and four hits, prior to the injury. 

If and when Harris rejoins the Bruins, he'll be returning to a defensive room that looks a lot different than it did when he first left the lineup.

The biggest change to the Boston room since we last saw Harris, of course, has been the emergence of Jonathan Aspirot as a lineup regular for Marco Sturm. In action for 30 games this season, Aspirot has a team-leading plus-19 rating (also the 21st-best in the NHL this season), and has been the perfect fit for what Sturms want out of his defense. In essence, a healthy Harris is likely jostling with Henri Jokiharju and Mason Lohrei for regular minutes on the Boston backend.

However, it is worth noting that the Bruins now have the ability to have two defensemen scratched every night, as the team traded Jeffrey Viel to Anaheim last week and lost Vladislav Kolyachonok to waivers on Wednesday.