Healthy Grzelcyk gives B’s a shot

BUFFALO — For Matt Grzelcyk, the summer of 2016 was very different, and far more enjoyable than the previous two.

The Charlestown native, one of the several Bruins’ defense prospects in the rookie tournament here, spent the previous two summers rehabbing from major surgeries — on his shoulder in 2014 and his knee in 2015.

“Not having to go through that whole process again, it gets kind of tiring after a while,” said Grzelcyk. “It was good to be able to take a few weeks off after the season to unwind and then all summer I had (B’s training) camp on my mind. It was nice just to be able to get into the weight room and be healthy a whole summer.”

The former Boston University standout was happy, too, to get his first game in an NHL jersey out of the way on Sunday.

“Obviously the pace is a little bit higher,” he said. “It’s what you dream about, right? Although it’s not a real game, we’re all competing for spots and getting ready for main camp. It’s nice to get that (first-game) monkey off your back.”

In his debut, the 5-foot9, 176-pound 22-year-old showed what he had shown in four years with the Terriers — making sound decisions, playing with poise and patience, and consistently making, hard, flat, on-the-tape passes.

Grzelcyk knows he has plenty of competition from the rookie defensemen.

“Absolutely,” he said. “It’s nice. We’re all kind of in the same boat right now. We’re all getting to know each other on and off the ice. Everyone is a great guy. We’re all competing for spots, but they’re great guys to be around.”

Grzelcyk will be one of the dozen or so prospects heading to the main training camp on Friday.

The seven-game preseason schedule opens next Monday at the Garden against Columbus.

Bruins notes

The Bruins rookies again played a strong two-way game last night in beating

the Sabres, 4-3.

Tall and talented center Peter Cehlarik, a camp standout, and winger Jake

DeBrusk each scored their second goal of the tourney. Center Sean Kuraly and left winger Jesse Gabrielle also had goals. Defenseman Jakub Zboril earned his third assist.

In goal, lanky Prague native Daniel Vladar turned aside 24 shots and held off a late Sabres surge. . . .

Zachary Senyshyn, the No. 15 pick overall pick in the 2015 draft, is undergoing final testing with the Bruins to determine how much, if at all, he’ll be able to do at training camp.

It’s been a summer of tough luck for the 19-yearold, who missed the B’s development camp in July because of mononucleosis and then had an emergency appendectomy Sept. 4.

“He met with the doctors (yesterday), he’s seeing one more (today) and then we’ll evaluate where he’s at in what he can do,” said general manager Don Sweeney. “I can’t speak for the doctors, but he’s been back on the ice. It’s a matter of how much more physical stuff you can start to add. Injuries are what they are. You never know when they’re going to happen and they’re never good. Fortunately these were things that he’s going to recover from.

“In the short term, yeah, there’s some drawbacks to it. But he’s a young player. You lose some development time, but we hope we’re talking about a long (career) here.”

The 6-2, 195-pound right winger had a nice season last year with Sault Ste. Marie in the OHL with 45-2064 totals in 66 games. He loomed as a serious contender to make the Bruins. Maybe he still is. . . . Swedish defenseman

Linus Arnesson, the B’s top pick in 2013 (secondround, No. 60), suffered a left shoulder injury during practice Friday. However, the team doesn’t believe it’s serious.

“He doesn’t feel that bad,” said Sweeney. “We’re going to go back and reevaluate it and make sure the tests come out right.” . . .

And on the subject of a contract extension for Brad

Marchand, Sweeney had his customary response: “I really don’t have any update on that. I’ll continue to work at it.” . . .

The HarborCenter, the Sabres’ two-year-old practice facility, is probably the finest in the NHL, getting the nod over the B’s new Warrior Ice Arena because it has two ice sheets and a 1,800-plus seating capacity, compared to 660 seats at the B’s new home away from home.

But Bruins players say the ice quality is poor.

“It was really choppy,” said one player after Sunday’s game. “It was hard to make any plays.”