Bruins’ Frederic has had an eventful summer
Trent Frederic’s “How I spent my summer” essay is going to need multiple chapters.
In addition to training for the upcoming season, the big Bruins forward jet-setted around Europe for the first time, collected a nice salary bump (two years at $2.3 million per), and to cap it off, he recently canned his first hole-in-one.
“I didn’t think I’d ever get one of those,” a still-beaming Frederic said Thursday via Zoom.
Playing golf with a bunch of his former comrades from the US National Development Team in northern Michigan, Frederic used a 9-iron to ace a 154-yard par-3.
“It was pretty cool,” he said.
Though Frederic couldn’t recall the name of the course (“I’m totally blanking right now; we played about eight rounds that week”), he did remember it was a Payne Stewart set-up and that he kind of stole the thunder from his brother Grant, who recorded a hole-in-one earlier in the summer.
Getting back to hockey, Frederic was glad he and the Bruins were able to strike a deal shortly before the arbitration process kicked off.
“I guess with the whole arbitration thing, it gives a little more leverage to [restricted free agents],” said Frederic, who recently attended a cousin’s wedding in Scotland and took side trips to London and Paris. “I’m happy with the deal. I’m glad we got to settle before, and I think they’re happy and I’m happy. So it’s all good.”
A natural center, the 6-foot-3-inch, 214-pounder has played mostly on the wings since turning pro. Last season, Fredric played a ton of right wing on the third line with Charlie Coyle at center and Taylor Hall on the left side.
With Patrice Bergeron retiring and David Krejci’s status in limbo, plus the expected elevations of Pavel Zacha to the first line and Coyle to the second, Frederic could return to the pivot.
“I guess everything will kind of play out at camp,” he said. “I don’t mind playing center or wing. I think last year, I played pretty much all three, left wing, center, and right. So, I’m comfortable playing both now or playing all three now.
“I actually really liked right wing last year, kind of the first time doing that and really liked it. So, just kind of wherever they [think] I fit in, just try to be my best there.”
Playing with and observing how Bergeron, Krejci, and Coyle played in the middle has been a huge benefit for Frederic, should a position change be in the cards.
“I kind of understand the system at center,” he said. “The way we play is, kind of a lot of times you play low forward. Like when I was playing with Charlie, he always liked when I would chip in and play down low.
“I think for me, the biggest thing would be faceoffs and getting that first touch on the puck for our team. That would be a big factor for my success there. That’s something I probably didn’t do the best last year, but I think with the repetition and the work I’ve been putting in, it should be good.”
Frederic also would like to expand his game into the special teams area. He’s done some penalty killing, but with many core players exiting from last season, the opportunity for some power-play time will be there.
“I would like to play more special teams,” he said. “It’s hard just playing five-on-five at times because you can lose some flow in the game.
“Even a little bit of killing and stuff like that goes a long way. You’re not just sitting there and getting cold. So, I think sometimes playing those other special teams gives you a better opportunity than five-on-five. It’d be awesome if I get the chance to do any of those.