Last September, Matt Poitras was a godsend for the Bruins. A team in desperate need of center help following the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci suddenly had a 19-year-old center tearing up training camp and preseason games and forcing his way onto the NHL roster, at least a year or two before anyone thought he would be ready.
This September, Poitras may once again be able to address one of Boston’s biggest needs, but this time that need is not at center. It’s at right wing.
The signing of Elias Lindholm gives the Bruins more of a true, all-situations No. 1 center than they had last year. Charlie Coyle proved last season that he is perfectly capable of being a No. 2 center, and Pavel Zacha can play there as well. Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie are rock-solid third-line options, and Georgii Merkulov could also make a roster push there. Johnny Beecher and Mark Kastelic can both bring size, speed, defensive smarts and faceoff wins to the fourth line.
Simply put, this year’s Bruins have options rather than questions when it comes to the center position. That doesn’t mean there’s no place for Poitras up the middle. If he turns out to be one of their best center options on the top three lines, that’s where he will play.
But there’s also a reason Poitras opened training camp playing right wing on Thursday. Not only does it create more competition at a position full of question marks behind first-line superstar David Pastrnak, but it also might free up Poitras to better utilize his offensive skill.
“We started using him there at the end [last season],” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said when asked about moving Poitras to the wing. “There's two reasons. One, I had a conversation with him towards the end before he had surgery, and I asked him about how much has he ever played wing. And his 16-year-old year in junior, he only played right wing. 17-year-old year, his team had made some trades, needed centers, and moved him to center, and that's his draft year. And his 18-year-old year. So, he's done it before.
“The second reason, because we know he's comfortable there, the second reason would be he's an offensively gifted player. You get to spend more time as a winger getting into the neutral zone, creating offense than you do as a center. It requires a little less – especially with the way we play, it requires the center do a lot of work down low [in the defensive zone]. It takes away for your ability to extend your shifts and do something on offense.”
Montgomery added that the Bruins still envision Poitras moving back to center at some point, but that there’s no timeline for when.
Poitras’s rookie season was cut short by a shoulder injury suffered in January, an indication that perhaps he wasn’t quite ready physically for the grind of an 82-game NHL season. Poitras made a point to get stronger as he rehabbed and trained throughout the summer, and he arrived to training camp 13 pounds heavier than he was at this time last year (189 pounds now vs. 176 last September).
“I definitely feel stronger,” Poitras said Thursday. “And it's not to the point where I added weight where I slowed down. I feel kind of the same speed, if not a bit faster. My game's kind of going to be the same, but the little extra weight might help with me in those kind of corner battle situations. If I'm playing center, helping out down low in the D-zone. If not, in the offensive zone, just holding on to pucks against bigger, stronger guys.”
On Thursday, Poitras skated on a line that featured Frederic at center and Cole Koepke at left wing. The Frederic-Poitras combination, in particular, is one the Bruins used last year on the third line and could certainly use again. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Poitras get a look at second-line right wing at some point either. Fellow offensive youngster Fabian Lysell got the first look on Coyle’s right Thursday, with veteran PTO invite Tyler Johnson on the left. Coyle’s usual left wing, Brad Marchand, did not skate with the main group Thursday as he continues to work his way back from offseason surgeries.
The other option the Bruins have with Poitras – and one they did not have last year because of his age – is sending him to AHL Providence if they decide he needs more seasoning. For his part, Poitras is determined to show the coaches and front office that won’t be necessary.
“I want to be here,” Poitras said. “I want to be able to show that I belong here and that they don’t really have a choice – you gotta keep me here.”
Here are four more takeaways from the first day of Bruins training camp:
The Zacha-Lindholm-Pastrnak line is FAST
On Day 1 of camp, Montgomery immediately combined Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm and David Pastrnak to test out what is expected to be the Bruins’ first line this season. And he was not disappointed.
“I thought the Lindholm line stood out,” Montgomery said when asked about which players were setting the pace on Day 1.
“Lindholm was a standout in the first half of practice, just with the pace he practices with. It really leads the charge of the group,” Montgomery said.
Though Montgomery will surely tinker with his forward lines often this training camp, Thursday’s dominant performance by Zacha, Lindholm and Pastrnak seemed to be a positive sign of things to come for that combination.
Zadorov-McAvoy pairing starts strong
The Bruins seem to have an abundance of riches on defense this upcoming season, and with the new addition of 6-foot-6 defenseman Nikita Zadorov this summer, they have another unique piece to find a home for on the back end.
On Thursday, Montgomery went right to pairing Zadorov with Charlie McAvoy, and the two seemed to compliment each other well.
“I thought they were very good today, so it was a good first viewing. I think it allows both of them to be very aggressive and play to their strengths,” Montgomery said about the pair.
“Zadorov is going to be heavy and hard. His ability to find the middle of the ice – I talked about when he got signed – is very underrated and that’s going to allow Mac to jump and go [on offense] a little bit more.”
Lysell has gotten stronger, pushes for second-line role
For Fabian Lysell, this year’s training camp presents a great opportunity to capitalize on a gap in the Bruins’ lineup that he may be the right guy to fill. If Lysell can translate his well-documented offensive abilities to NHL speed this training camp, he could fill the vacancy left by Jake DeBrusk as second-line right winger, most likely alongside Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle.
And the good news for Lysell is that Montgomery put him with Coyle on Day 1, which could be an indicator of where Lysell fits in as well as help the two build chemistry.
Here’s what Montgomery said about Lysell after Day 1 of camp:
“He’s visibly stronger. You see him wanting pucks more, going to get more pucks, and that’s what we want. He’s an offensively gifted player and we want the puck on his stick. He did a good job competing for pucks and having pucks more.”
As Swayman sits out, six other Bruins goalies take the ice, including a new addition
Obviously the biggest story about the Bruins’ goalie group at training camp is who’s not there: Jeremy Swayman. Swayman and the Bruins failed to reach a contract extension before the start of training camp on Wednesday, leaving Boston without its No.1 goalie on the ice for Thursday’s practice.
The Bruins instead announced a different goalie contract on Thursday, when they added Finnish goalie Kasimir Kaskisou on a professional tryout agreement. Kaskisuo was a surprise late addition to the Bruins’ training camp roster (on which he was not listed to start the day). Kaskisuo has one full NHL game under his belt, back in 2019 when he gave up six goals to the Penguins while in net for the Maple Leafs.
With Swayman away, attention was focused on Joonas Korpisalo, who is expected to back up the Bruins or step up as the No. 1 goalie if Swayman was to miss time while negotiating his contract extension. Korpisalo, who was traded to Boston this summer from Ottawa for Linus Ullmark, is the only goalie the Bruins had on the ice that has more than three games of NHL experience.
Brandon Bussi headlined Group B’s trio of goalies as he attempts to make a good impression in his second Bruins camp with the possibility of starting in Boston this season.
Bussi led the Providence Bruins in minutes and games played last season. Though he was called up to Boston last season when Swayman or Ullmark were sidelined with an injury, Bussi has never played in an NHL game.
The Bruins rounded out their six-goalie platoon with Michael DiPietro, Ryan Bischel and Nolan Maier. DiPietro has played three NHL games and split time with Bussi in Providence last season in his fifth AHL season. Maier is a 23-year-old with 10 games of AHL experience and Bischel is a 25-year-old goalie who just completed a five-year career at Notre Dame.
Here’s a list of the entire roster from Bruins training camp Day 1: