Message to Frederic: ‘Hunt and hit’
Trent Frederic did not have the training camp he would have liked. The same goes for new coach Jim Montgomery, who chose A. J. Greer to start at left wing on the third line over Frederic in the season opener.
But hockey being what it is, Frederic didn’t have to wait long for a spot to open up. When Jake Debrusk went down with an upper body injury in the season opener in Washington on Wednesday, it opened up a spot in the lineup for Saturday’s home opener against the Arizona Coyotes.
Craig Smith bumped up to skate in Debrusk’s spot with Patrice Bergeron, Greer moved over to play on the right side with Charlie Coyle and Frederic was set to slide into the left wing spot.
Frederic has admitted that he was a little too concerned with making mistakes in the preseason, playing too conservatively. As a result, he was a step behind.
“I felt like I was chasing a little bit,” said Frederic.
Montgomery had just two directives for him going into Saturday night — hunt and hit.
“For a lot of players when they’re thinking too much, you try and give them one or two things to think about,” said Montgomery after the B’s optional morning skate at the Garden. “And for him, I just told him to hunt and hit. Go hunting out there. That kind of mindset gets you on your toes, gets your feet moving. Usually you impact the game. And he’s had his best practices here the last three practices in a row, so I’m excited to see how he hunts and hits tonight.”
For Frederic, playing with Coyle represents a comfort zone of sorts. The 24-year- old played the best hockey of his young career in the second half of last season when he was playing with Coyle and Smith.
“I’m used to playing with Chuck. We’re good friends. He makes it easy, he’s a good communicator. He’s easy to play with,” said Frederic.
He’s got much more limited experience with Greer, but they did play together in the preseason.
“I had fun,” said Frederic. “He’s fast and he slashes across nice. He’s a left winger, so I know he’s coming across, which makes it easier. He’s a good guy. He’s talking a lot too, so it makes it easy.”…
Jack Studnicka is still waiting for his opportunity, but it may not be for much longer. Montgomery couldn’t say when he’d be going in, but he thinks he’ll see some action in the next week or so.
“There is a plan,” said Montgomery. “It’s all going to be dependent on how the guys in the lineup are playing. If guys are playing well, it’s hard to make changes. But we do have three in four nights coming up, so I expect him to get in a game.”
Studnicka had a good training camp right up until the final preseason game when he absorbed a minus- 4 in the 5- 3 loss against the Devils. Because he required waivers to be sent down, and his cheap contract ($ 762,000 for the next two years) making him a good candidate to be scooped up, the B’s did not try to sneak him through like they did with their higher-priced veterans Nick Foligno and Mike Reilly. But with Studnicka still just 23, the B’s would not want him to languish in the press box for too long…
Montgomery revealed that he’s been showing a certain clip of Brad Marchand battling Sidney Crosby in an offseason workout to show young players how to protect the puck. The practice goes back to when he was coaching at the University of Denver.
“That’s how you protect pucks. This is how you compete,” said Montgomery of his message to young players. “If you have the luxury of having someone like 63, he’s great at protecting pucks, and gets inside position on people. There’s an art to it and there’s a level of compete to it. And once you learn how to do it, I think people get better and better. Charlie Coyle’s really good at it, so we have really good examples on our team.”…
Montgomery ref lected again on getting the game puck from the season opener in Washington, which was presented to him by captain Patrice Bergeron. There were plenty of good candidates to receive it.
“(Jakub) Zboril was coming back from reconstructive knee surgery, we had (Jakub) Lauko playing his first game, Linus (Ullmark) was great in net,” said Montgomery. “There were a lot of guys who could have gotten it and the fact that they made me feel a part of it right away, because they knew it was my first win leading the Bruins, it meant a lot to me. It makes you feel good.”