Bruins mull tough final roster decisions
The Bruins may be down to one group of players for practice following Thursday’s preseason finale in New York, but it is still a rather bloated group.
With a need to get down to the 23-man roster limit by Wednesday’s opener, there are 28 players still in camp, including goalies Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. After Brandon Bussi was sent to Providence on Friday as expected, the only remaining goalie decision will be who gets the opening night start.
For the forwards and defense, there are much tougher choices to make. Let’s take a look at how it breaks down:
Forwards
As of right now, the B’s have five extra forwards in camp. While coach Jim Montgomery said he has not made a final decision on whether training camp star
Matt Poitras will be around on opening night, it’s hard to imagine him going back to Guelph before the B’s at least take a nine-game look at him.
In Friday’s practice, Poitras was again centering Morgan Geekie and Trent Frederic, the line that produced the game-winning goal in the B’s 3-1 win over the Rangers on Thursday. The top six had Pavel Zacha between David Pastrnak and James van Riemsdyk on one line and Charlie Coyle centering Brad Marchand and Jake Debrusk on the other. The fourth line had Patrick Brown centering Milan Lucic and Jakob Lauko. Here are thoughts on the remaining five players battling to be on the opening night roster, either in the lineup or as the 13th forward.
*John Beecher — He had a very good camp and it was a tad surprising he wasn’t back between Lucic and Lauko on Friday, though Brown was more noticeable while playing the wing Thursday. The key difference here is Brown, signed to a two-year deal worth $800,000 annually, requires waivers to be sent to Providence and Beecher does not. The B’s could make an asset management decision, which wouldn’t favor Beecher. That would be a tough call because it certainly looks to these eyes that Beecher had earned the job — his 2-for-9 night in the faceoff circle at Madison Square Garden notwithstanding.
*Danton Heinen — Here on a tryout, he’s played well in camp and could be a valuable addition. Since he was in Boston the first time, Heinen has added a level of responsibility to his game and you could plug him in on just about any line without him hurting you. He may never score as much as you may think he should — getting stoned on a 2-on-1 late in a tie game against the Flyers is a case in point — but he’s still very much an NHL player at age 28.
*Jesper Boqvist — The young Swede was given a plum assignment in New York to play the left wing with Zacha and Pastrnak. He flashed his speed on a couple of shifts, but didn’t seize a job. He scored 10 goals each of the last two years in New Jersey and he has an intriguing draft pedigree (36th overall in 2017). But if he’s kept over, say, Heinen then it would be for what the B’s believe he’s capable of in the future instead of what he’s shown in camp.
*A. J. Greer — Greer was in a fight for his job on Thursday and, to his credit, he played like he knew it, drawing the penalty that led to the B’s power play goal and then finishing off the win with an empty-netter. It’s just hard to imagine Greer and Lucic in the lineup at the same time.
* Oskar Steen — He played his physical brand of hockey and scored a netfront goal early in the preseason, but he doesn’t bring quite the same energy as Lauko does to that fourth line.
Boqvist, Greer and Steen all require waivers, with Boqvist being the most likely to get snatched up, though teams are able to get a lot of players though at this time of year with most rosters set.
Defense
On Friday, Charlie MCAvoy was paired with Matt Grzelcyk, Hampus Lindholm was with Brandon Carlo while Derek Forbort was paired with Kevin Shattenkirk.
On the outside looking in:
*Mason Lohrei — The rookie will be here at some point, it’s just a matter of when. Ideally, he would get a month or two in Providence, come up and never look back. On the other hand, his presence in the lineup arguably makes the team better right now.
Much like Beecher, his contract situation is working against him. The B’s can send him to Providence without waivers.
*Ian Mitchell — Obtained in the Taylor Hall trade, Mitchell has the ability to push the pace, but he didn’t have a great finale on Thursday, allowing Kaapo Kakko to snap off a goal in front of him.
*Jakub Zboril — His luck with injuries is not the greatest. He missed part of camp after taking a big hit in the preseason opener, which didn’t help his chances. On the upside, he has proven he can play well at the NHL level in short spurts.
Mitchell and Zboril require waivers, and either might look attractive to another team.
However the cuts are made, waivers, asset management and the salary cap considerations will no doubt be weighed along with straight hockey assessments.