The Boston Bruins have now played four of their seven preseason games following Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers and are a little over a week out from opening night (Oct. 8 in Florida), so it feels like a good time to take stock of things and make our first opening night roster projection.
Let’s jump right into it:
FORWARDS (13)
Pavel Zacha – Elias Lindholm – David Pastrnak
Brad Marchand – Charlie Coyle – Fabian Lysell
Trent Frederic – Matt Poitras – Morgan Geekie
Johnny Beecher – Mark Kastelic – Justin Brazeau
Max Jones
Lindholm, whose son Luka was born earlier this week, has yet to play this preseason and has only practiced once due to an undisclosed injury. All those missed reps are not ideal, but coach Jim Montgomery has said Lindholm’s injury is not serious and he will return this week. He figures to slot right back in as first-line center once he does.
Lysell still needs to finish the preseason strong to lock up a roster spot, but after a slow start to training camp and a rough first preseason game, he is trending in the right direction after this past week. He had a great game Tuesday night, skated on a line with Marchand and Coyle in Thursday’s practice, and then had another strong showing in Saturday’s game (while playing on a line with Beecher and Patrick Brown).
Lysell didn’t get on the scoresheet Saturday, but he did create several scoring chances – one by winning a 1-on-1 battle on the forecheck, one by collecting a rebound in front of his own net and then going coast-to-coast, one by driving hard to the net off the rush, and yet another by winning a race to a loose puck in the offensive zone. It would behoove the Bruins to give Lysell a longer look with Marchand and Coyle this week to see if the 2021 first-round pick can stick.
Frederic, Poitras and Geekie played together Saturday and had a good game. That has the looks of a really good third line, with all three capable of taking another step offensively this season and all three bringing two-way smarts as natural centers. All three also remain in the running for the second-line right-wing job, especially if Lysell falters over this next week. Poitras is eligible to be sent to AHL Providence this year, but he has simply been too good this preseason for that to be a serious consideration.
Beecher and Kastelic have looked good together this preseason and can share faceoff/center duties. Both will be regular penalty-killers as well. Beecher and Brazeau had good chemistry last season, so there’s a pretty seamless fit there, too. Jones has been off the ice since last Saturday with an undisclosed injury, but is expected back in the next day or two. He brings more of the speed and physicality the Bruins targeted this summer and should challenge for regular playing time once he’s up to speed.
Georgii Merkulov, the Bruins’ other top forward prospect, would be a notable cut here. The 23-year-old center has had some good moments this preseason, but it doesn’t feel like he’s done quite enough to this point. It doesn’t help that he plays a more demanding position than Lysell and faces more positional competition.
Tyler Johnson, in camp on a professional tryout, would be another. The 34-year-old’s Stanley Cup pedigree and ability to play all three forward positions is appealing, but he needs to steal a job from someone to get a contract, and probably still has work to do to get there. Lysell may be the guy he needs to beat out.
The Bruins have a slew of forwards with a lot of AHL experience and some NHL experience who have had some positive moments this preseason, namely Patrick Brown, Cole Koepke, Vinni Lettieri and Riley Tufte. If the Bruins were to keep 14 forwards to start the season, it wouldn’t be surprising if one of them was the 14th.
(UPDATE: Lysell was a surprise cut Sunday afternoon. If I could get a do-over here, put Morgan Geekie on the second line and add Tyler Johnson to the roster.)
DEFENSE (8)
Nikita Zadorov – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Mason Lohrei – Andrew Peeke
Parker Wotherspoon, Billy Sweezey
The six regulars on the blue line are the most settled part of the roster. They have lined up the way they’re listed above for just about all of camp so far. Wotherspoon is a pretty safe bet to be the seventh defenseman as well.
If and when Jeremy Swayman signs, the Bruins probably won’t have the cap space to keep the maximum 23 players. But if Swayman isn’t signed by opening night, the Bruins will be able to carry an eighth defenseman or 14th forward.
I would lean towards an extra D in that situation, and rewarding Sweezey for a strong preseason could be the move. The 28-year-old Hanson native has brought a lot of physicality, he dropped the gloves with Flyers captain Sean Couturier on Saturday, and he has had some nice reads to break up scoring chances. Ian Mitchell would be another option here. Again, this would probably only be temporary until Swayman signs.
GOALIES (2)
Joonas Korpisalo
Brandon Bussi
The elephant remains in the room. Jeremy Swayman will obviously top the depth chart here once he signs, but that still hasn’t happened. It seems crazy that either or both sides could actually be stubborn enough to allow this standoff to linger into the regular season, to the detriment of the rest of the team, but it certainly seems like that’s a very real possibility at this point.
Korpisalo is in line to be the starter for as long as Swayman is absent. He has clearly been the Bruins’ best goalie this preseason, with back-to-back strong outings helping to ease some concerns about his poor performance in Ottawa last year. He stopped 37 of the 40 shots he faced Saturday, including 12 of 13 high-danger shots. There wasn’t much he could have done on any of the three goals.
Bussi and Michael DiPietro have both struggled this preseason. Either would be a big question mark if he had to play a meaningful number of regular-season games over the next month or two. Bussi remains ahead of DiPietro, though, and would back up Korpisalo pretty much by default. Montgomery said that Bussi will start the Bruins’ next preseason game on Tuesday, so we’ll see if he can bounce back.