The Boston Bruins wrapped up the preseason Saturday with a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers at TD Garden. Next up: Opening night Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Between now and then, general manager Don Sweeney will need to finalize his initial season-opening roster. The Bruins need to make at least five more cuts between now and Monday at 5 p.m. So, what will that opening night roster actually look like? Here is our second and final roster projection:
FORWARDS (14)
Morgan Geekie – Elias Lindholm – David Pastrnak
Pavel Zacha – Casey Mittelstadt – Viktor Arvidsson
Tanner Jeannot – Fraser Minten – Mikey Eyssimont
Marat Khusnutdinov – Sean Kuraly – Mark Kastelic
Matej Blumel, Johnny Beecher
The biggest thing Bruins coach Marco Sturm needed to try to find Saturday was some semblance of chemistry on the second and third lines. He has tried a bunch of different middle-six combinations throughout camp, but none have really stuck. Fortunately, he may have finally found something he can feel good about, at least to start the season.
The second line of Zacha, Mittelstadt and Arvidsson showed some real chemistry that wasn’t there in the one previous preseason game they played together. They scored Boston’s second goal on a nice tic-tac-toe passing play from Arvidsson to Mittelstadt to Zacha.
“Today was much better than their game the other day,” Sturm said of that trio. “So, I’m hoping they’re going to continue like that if they’re going to stay together, and give us some scoring threat besides the big line.”
Minten was already trending towards winning the third-line center job, but he locked himself in with another strong performance Saturday, including making a slick feed to set up Nikita Zadorov on the Bruins’ first goal. Even better, he had started that shift by putting out two fires in the defensive zone. Offense will be the biggest question for the 21-year-old, but his defense, hockey IQ and play strength are there. His wingers could still change a bit early in the season, but this combination worked Saturday, and Sturm said he particularly liked having Jeannot with Minten.
Khusnutdinov, who would need waivers to be sent down, has played well enough to at least win a roster spot, and probably a spot in the opening night lineup. Same goes for Blumel, although he may have slipped out of the top 12 at least for the time being.
I have Beecher as the 23rd and final man in, but that last spot could really go any number of ways. Alex Steeves and Jeffrey Viel are still around up front, and both would need waivers to be sent down. But neither practiced with the main group on Friday, which could be telling.
Matt Poitras would certainly be a notable cut, but the 21-year-old needs to play every night as he continues to develop, be it in Boston or Providence. Right now, it looks like he’s outside the top 12 in Boston after a bit of an up-and-down preseason.
The Bruins could also keep just 13 forwards and go with either eight defensemen or three goalies. More on that below. Beecher, for what it’s worth, had a bad first preseason game, a way better second game, and then a solid but unspectacular third outing. He could be a more defensive, penalty-killing, faceoff-winning reserve, contrasting with the more offensive-minded Blumel.
DEFENSE (7)
Mason Lohrei – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Andrew Peeke
Nikita Zadorov – Henri Jokiharju
Jordan Harris
These are the pairings Sturm has used for the vast majority of camp. It would be pretty surprising if he opens with anything different this week. Harris entered camp as the favorite to win the seventh D job, and nothing has really happened that would change that.
If the Bruins decide to keep an eighth defenseman, it would be Jonathan Aspirot, the only other D still in camp. Aspirot, a physical, 26-year-old career AHLer, has quietly just had a really solid camp. Sturm likes him. It’s a bit of an upset that he’s lasted this long, but at this point it wouldn’t be a total shock if he sticks around even longer.
GOALIES (2)
Jeremy Swayman
Joonas Korpisalo
Swayman was excellent Saturday, stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced. Korpisalo was excellent Thursday in Washington, stopping 33 of 34. The Bruins need goaltending to be a major strength, and both of these guys can now start the regular season feeling good about themselves.
The Bruins could decide to keep Michael DiPietro in Boston as a third goalie if they’re worried about losing him on waivers, or if they want to try to work out a trade involving either DiPietro or Korpisalo. But they’re not going to play three goalies, so the guess here is that they take their chances and try to get DiPietro to Providence to be their No. 1 there for another season.