The Bruins announced their rookie and training camp rosters Tuesday with a few inevitable unfamiliar faces.
Mark Fayne
Contract: PTO
6-foot-3, 209 lbs. right-shot defenseman
Stats: 17-48--65 in 389 NHL games
Age: 31
Fayne is one of the few players the Bruins invited to training camp on a professional tryout. He’s trying to get back into the NHL after spending 2017-18 in the AHL because the Oilers waived him. You say never judge a book by its cover, I say never judge a hockey player by his time spent with the Edmonton Oilers in the salary-cap era. The Providence College product scored four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 2011-12, his best season with the Devils. He has playoff experience, too, with three assists in 24 Stanley Cup Playoff games over his seven-year NHL career.
Making the NHL club out of camp is a longshot for Fayne, considering the Bruins already have eight NHL-caliber defensemen vying for six spots. He could very well earn a veteran AHL role in Providence.
Carson Focht
Contract: Undrafted
6-foot, 179 lbs. left-shot center
Stats: 13-20--33 in 69 WHL games last season
Age: 18
Focht went undrafted in June, but Central Scouting had him ranked 155th among North American skaters. That’s almost 50 spots higher than his mid-season ranking -- obviously a good sign.
Watch some highlights and find out why.
Marek Valach
Contract: Undrafted
5-foot-10, 172 lbs. left-shot forward
Stats: 20-21--41 (and 64 PIM) in 52 games for USHL’s Cedar Rapids RoughRiders
Age: 20
Prior to last season in the USHL, Valach was playing against guys much older than him -- we’re talking 30, 35 --for Salzburg Red Bull EC in Austria. He apparently joined the USHL to retain NCAA eligibility, so he’s someone the Bruins might keep an eye on should he go that route. Riders coach Mark Carlson has him pegged as a good skater and a “scoring threat” who is serious about his conditioning.
Justin Bergeron
Contract: Undrafted
6-foot, 181 lbs. left-shot defenseman
Stats: 9-21--30 for Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL
Age: 17
Last name: A+
John Ludvig
Contract: Undrafted
6-foot-1, 187 lbs. left-shot defenseman
Stats: 2-5--7 (and a plus-11) in 51 games with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks
Age: 18
Ludvig went undrafted last June, but he’s on Central Scouting’s radar. They gave him a “C” for the 2018 draft. He’s also apparently a fighter, racking up three fighting majors in his first 14 games with the Winterhawks alone.
““I’ve always been like that since I was a kid. My dad raised me that way because he is a really old school kind of guy,” he told Brandon Rivers. “I was into boxing and stuff.”