Right shot Kase takes reps on second line
Newest Czech paired with Krejci
Bruins’ newcomer Ondrej Kase on Monday skated with his new teammates for the first time since being obtained on Friday and, as expected, he took his first few shifts with his Czech countryman David Krejci as his centerman and Jake DeBrusk as the left wing.
While Kase has not played since taking an elbow up high on Feb. 7, he has been skating since last Thursday and said on Monday that he feels well enough to play when the B’s return to action tonight against the Flames as the Garden. Both GM Don Sweeney and coach Bruce Cassidy, however, sounded as if he might give Kase a little more time to get acclimated.
“I think he’d like to get a few more reps with us but that deal was more about the playoffs and moving forward so we’re not worried whether it’s (Tuesday), Thursday or Saturday,” said Cassidy.
Krejci had been skating with the now-departed Danton Heinen, a left shot, as his right wing and has been also seeing time with the rightshooting Karson Kuhlman. But Kase would represent a genuine shoot-first, rightshooting wing for Krejci.
“We’ll see. It’s hard to say after one practice. It was a good practice, hard and short, but you don’t get too many reps in a practice like that. But he’s a good player,” said Krejci of possible chemistry between the two. “Obviously you have to play your best game. You have to show up and do what you do best.”
On the way back
Joakim Nordstrom was a healthy scratch in Calgary and Vancouver in favor of Anton Blidh and was not on a regular line in Monday’s practice. Par Lindholm centered a fourth line with Sean Kuray and Chris Wagner as wings.
What gives?
“We brought in Blidh to take a look,” said Cassidy. “He hasn’t played, to me, as well as he did last year, his consistency. Some of that was injuries, some of it was some freaky stuff that happened to him this year. He’s in, he’s out. Now he’s healthy and in competition to get in. We’re looking at what the best lineup will be for us now and going forward. Now’s the time to look at a guy like Blidh who has some characteristics, a good penalty killer. That’s probably the biggest reason.”
The 23-man roster limit is lifted after the trade deadline passes, though teams are limited to four call-ups between now and the end of the regular season (the B’s burned one of them with the paper transaction of Kuhlman). While he didn’t want to limit it to just a couple of names, Cassidy mentioned Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka as Providence players that could get another looksee in the last month-plus of the season. He also said that, with the extra bodies already here, it will be a challenge to get everyone some playing time. Sweeney also did not rule out taking a look at Studnicka at wing.
Heinen moves on
Sweeney said that Danton Heinen took the trade hard.
“I’ve got a long history with Danton and those are really difficult conversations. He just had his mom in town, we’ve development a relationship with the family as well as Danton and the impact he had on our hockey club. He was visibly upset.”
Sweeney said Nick Ritchie was catching a flight to Boston Monday afternoon and has a good chance to play tonight against Calgary, most likely with Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork. Ritchie has 8-11-19 totals in 41 games, but is coming off a 2-2-4 performance against Vegas. He believes he can bring a physical element to the B’s.
“For sure, that’s what I’ve been doing and why I’m playing well,” he said. “That’s what I do, I drive to the net and win puck battles and hopefully can bring in a few wins down and around the net. Hopefully I can help the team here and I’m going to take pride in playing that big game, winning battles, playing physical and driving to the net for sure.”