The Bruins made an interesting call-up on Friday afternoon, recalling North Billerica native Marc McLaughlin from AHL Providence on an emergency basis.
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It's interesting because McLaughlin probably wouldn't have been the name most fans would have expected for a call-up. The 24-year-old forward has had a quiet season offensively in Providence, posting six goals and five assists in 53 games.
There are several reasons the move makes sense, though. For starters, the Bruins were down to 12 forwards on the active roster after sending down Anthony Richard on Thursday, so they almost certainly had to call up someone before road games on Long Island on Saturday and in Toronto on Monday. They wouldn't want to risk someone getting sick or getting hurt at morning skate and then being down to 11 forwards barring a last-minute move.
Technically, an emergency recall means the Bruins are in danger of falling below 12 forwards. It's unclear if there is an actual injury situation they're monitoring or worried about, though. Teams can kind of get away with just saying someone's questionable even if they're going to play.
Secondly, an emergency call-up cannot have a cap hit higher than $875,000. That rules out Johnny Beecher, Georgii Merkulov and a couple others in Providence. If the recall changes from an emergency call-up to a regular call-up at some point, the Bruins wouldn't have enough cap space for someone making more than that anyways.
Someone like Merkulov or Fabian Lysell probably wouldn't be ideal for this situation either. It's unclear if there's any plan for McLaughlin to actually play. Unless there is an injury, coach Jim Montgomery is likely planning to stick with the same 12 forwards he played Thursday night for the foreseeable future.
McLaughlin has the versatility to plug in at center or wing on the fourth line if needed. He also has 13 games of NHL experience and three NHL goals to his name over the last couple years. This is his first call-up this season.
Why not just bring Richard right back up? Well, there's a waiver situation to consider there. If Richard played one more NHL game, he would need to go through waivers to be sent down. This could be a situation where the Bruins want to maintain as much roster flexibility as possible before next Friday's trade deadline.