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Gagne signs with Bruins

SIMON GAGNE has made it all the way back.

After sitting out last season as a 33-year-old, contemplating retirement and the rest of his life following a bitter discord with the Flyers, Gagne signed a one-year contract with the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. His debut on Wednesday in Detroit wil be his first NHL game in 536 days.

Gagne, now 34, will earn a pro-rated $600,000 for the remainder of this season. Yet, for Gagne, returning to the NHL had nothing to do with money.

It had everything to do with proving he still had enough left in the tank to complete a highly improbable comeback. Most thought the game passed him by years ago - a stunning development, since he was among the 12 best Canadian-born forwards for a period of more than 5 years.

This fall, he was invited to Bruins training camp on a tryout - and stuck around after camp ended, even with nothing promised - to try and earn a deal. He missed opening night against the Flyers, without a contract, and hoped one more week of practice would put him over the top. It did.

We caught up with Gagne last week in Boston.

For a better look at Gagne's long road back to the NHL, check out this story from last February when he was working as a commentator on Quebec television.

NO CALL-UPS: As Craig Berube mentioned on Monday, the Flyers would not be re-calling anyone from Lehigh Valley to complete their roster for tonight's game. They will not have an extra body for the first time in a long time.

Blair Jones will make his Flyers debut centering the fourth line. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare will slide up to center Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds.

Matt Read and R.J. Umberger will switch sides on the wing, something Berube said Read asked to do.

Berube hinted the Flyers may re-call an extra body or two from Lehigh Valley (if the salary cap allows, of course) for their three-game road trip through Dallas, Chicago and Pittsburgh that begins on Saturday.

EXPECTED LINEUPS: Steve Mason is back in net for the Flyers after Ray Emery's stellar season debut against Montreal. Here's what to expect -

Raffl - Giroux - Voracek
Schenn - Bellemare - Simmonds
Umberger - Couturier - Read
Rinaldo - Jones - Akeson

Streit - Grossmann
Schultz - MacDonald
Schenn - Del Zotto

Mason
Emery

Injuries: Braydon Coburn (lower-body), Vinny Lecavalier (left foot).
Scratches: None.

FOR ANAHEIM: The Ducks are coming off a 5-1 thrashing of the Sabres on Monday afternoon. They outshot Buffalo, 42-12, and were mostly toying with Buffalo all game. The score probably wasn't even as close as 5-1 would indicate.

Patrick Maroon - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg
Emerson Etem - William Karlsson - Devante Smith-Pelly
Matt Beleskey - Nate Thompson - Tim Jackman

Cam Fowler - Ben Lovejoy
Hampus Lindholm - Francois Beauchemin
Clayton Stoner - Sami Vatanen

No word yet on Anaheim's goaltender, but John Gibson is a possibility, since Frederik Anderson started on Monday in Buffalo.

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @frank_seravalli