The speedy forward signs a one-year deal.

WILMINGTON, Mass. (AP) – The Boston Bruins didn’t want to lose Sergei Samsonov again, not after he missed 74 games last season with a wrist injury.

So when he agreed to a one-year contract Thursday – after sitting out the first day of training camp under new coach Mike Sullivan – the Bruins had their offensive sparkplug back.

“I golfed with him just the other day and he looks healthy. He’s eager to go,” team captain Joe Thornton said. “We’ve all watched Sergei play and he doesn’t miss a beat. I think he’s going to be just as good or better than the last couple of years.”

Thornton was taken with the first pick of the 1997 draft, while Samsonov was chosen eighth overall and won the rookie of the year award with 22 goals and 25 assists. Both 24 years old, they form one of the best young scoring combinations in the NHL.

But the Bruins missed Samsonov’s playmaking last season, when he had five goals and six assists in eight games. He had bone graft surgery on his right wrist Dec. 24.

He returned for the last regular-season game, scoring a goal and an assist in an 8-5 win over Buffalo, and the playoffs. Boston was eliminated by New Jersey in the first round.

General manager Mike O’Connell said Samsonov feels fine now.

“He has been working out all during the off-season in Michigan, he always keeps himself in great shape and he has had no problems with his wrist,” O’Connell said, “so he should be right on schedule with the rest of his teammates.”

Terms of Samsonov’s deal were not released.

Two defensemen who took regular shifts for Boston last season, Nick Boynton and Bryan Berard, were not in camp Thursday, although O’Connell is optimistic that Boynton will return.

He said he proposed a two-year contract to Boynton’s representative, Anton Thun, this week and hadn’t heard back. But Boynton may not be able to practice for a week because of a hamstring injury, O’Connell said.

Berard is an unrestricted free agent after one season with the Bruins and wanted more than $2 million per year. O’Connell said the team was prepared to offer a two-year deal at less than $2 million a year.

“He’s just waiting to see how the market plays out,” O’Connell said.

The return of Boynton and Berard would give Sullivan more depth on defense and provide help for new goaltender Felix Potvin, who spent the last 21/2 seasons with Los Angeles.

Signing Potvin was “a great move,” Brian Rolston said.

The Bruins let goalie Byron Dafoe leave as a free agent after the 2001-02 season. Last season, Steve Shields, John Grahame and Jeff Hackett shared the position but only Shields remains with the Bruins.

Sullivan joined the Bruins as an assistant March 19 when Robbie Ftorek was fired as coach and O’Connell succeeded him. Sullivan had been coaching Boston’s AHL team in Providence.

“The guys really liked him,” defenseman Sean O’Donnell said. “He was very good at making mid-game adjustments and decisions. He was pretty exact and precise in what he wanted.”

Having Samsonov should make Sullivan’s job easier.

“He’s a skilled guy,” O’Donnell said of the team’s top playmaker. “There aren’t too many (like) him in the league, and it’s not something that you can teach.”

AP-ES-09-11-03 1701EDT