While the Boston Bruins had made a few cuts earlier in the week, they made their biggest round of cuts yet on Friday afternoon.
General manager Don Sweeney announced in a press release that the team has put Patrick Brown, Mike Callahan, Georgii Merkulov, Victor Soderstrom and Riley Tufte on waivers for the purpose of assignment to AHL Providence. In addition, the Bruins have assigned Frederic Brunet, Riley Duran, Brett Harrison and Fabian Lysell to Providence, with none of those four requiring waivers.
Those moves leave the Bruins with the following 28 players still in camp:
FORWARDS (17)
Viktor Arvidsson, Johnny Beecher, Matej Blumel, Mikey Eyssimont, Morgan Geekie, Tanner Jeannot, Mark Kastelic, Marat Khusnutdinov, Sean Kuraly, Elias Lindholm, Fraser Minten, Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrnak, Matt Poitras, Alex Steeves, Jeffrey Viel, Pavel Zacha
DEFENSE (8)
Jonathan Aspirot, Jordan Harris, Henri Jokiharju, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Charlie McAvoy, Andrew Peeke, Nikita Zadorov
GOALIES (3)
Michael DiPietro, Joonas Korpisalo, Jeremy Swayman
The Bruins will play their final preseason game Saturday afternoon at TD Garden against the Rangers. They must get down to their initial 23-man opening day roster by Monday at 5 p.m.
The most notable names on Friday's list of cuts are probably Lysell and Merkulov. Lysell, a 2021 first-round pick, will now start the season in Providence for a fourth straight year. He had a good first few days of camp, but didn't really keep the momentum going, and finished his preseason with a dud Thursday night in Washington.
Merkulov, who has led Providence in scoring each of the last three seasons, was better in his preseason games, but still didn't do enough to take a job and run with it. He is at least a possibility to get claimed off waivers given his AHL production. Merkulov has zero goals and one assist in 10 career NHL games.
Frederic Brunet had a strong preseason on defense, but the 22-year-old needs to play as he continues to develop. If he stayed in Boston, he would likely be the seventh defenseman and not play enough. Speaking of extra defensemen, Callahan and Soderstrom are now out of running, leaving just Harris and Aspirot. Aspirot seemed to be a long shot to make the Bruins, but the fact that he's still around heading into the final weekend of camp is at least noteworthy. He could still be the final cut on the back end, though.
Up front, the Bruins will still need to cut at least three, and possibly four, forwards. Alex Steeves and Jeffrey Viel did not practice with the Bruins' main group on Friday, so that could be a sign that they're on the outside looking in at the moment.
Here's what the Bruins' lines looked like on Friday:
Minten and Poitras are the only two players left in camp who would not require waivers to be sent to Providence. They most likely need to win a spot in the top 12; otherwise, playing big minutes in Providence would be more beneficial than sitting in the press box in Boston.
In net, Michael DiPietro would require waivers to be sent to Providence. It seems unlikely the Bruins would keep a third goalie behind Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo, but that could be a possibility if they're worried about DiPietro getting claimed.
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