UPDATED Sunday, October 8: Per the Bruins, Patrick Brown and A.J. Greer have been placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. Jesper Boqvist, Oskar Steen and Jakub Zboril have been assigned to Providence.
Here is how the roster shapes up as the Bruins get Sunday off and anticipate two days of focus on Wednesday night’s season opener against the Chicago Blackhawks (7:30 faceoff on TNT, 98.5 The Sports Hub).
Saturday’s cuts (Zboril, Boqvist and Steen) brought the Boston Bruins down to decisions on D Mason Lohrei and LW Danton Heinen. After Sunday’s moves (Brown and Greer), the Bruins had the following 12 forwards under contract and in NHL camp:
63 Marchand (C) … 13 Coyle … 74 DeBrusk
21 van Riemsdyk … 18 Zacha … 88 Pastrnak (A)
11 Frederic … 51 Poitras … 39 Geekie
17 Lucic … 19 Beecher … 94 Lauko
The Bruins also had the following eight defensemen in camp:
48 Grzelcyk … 73 McAvoy (A)
27 Lindholm … 25 Carlo
28 Forbort/6 Lohrei … 22 Shattenkirk/14 Mitchell
… and a Jennings-winning goalies tandem: 35 Ullmark, 1 Swayman.
Saturday night, this blog read that, if Lohrei is assigned to Providence and Heinen is released from his PTO (camp tryout), the Bruins would be down to the maximum 23-man, opening-night roster. 2 goalies, 7 defensemen and 14 forwards. UPDATE: The NHL roster was at 21 with the Brown and Greer cuts on Sunday. (Let the speculation increase as to whether the Bruins now sign Heinen.)
Dom is the man. His prospects reports are excellent, he does a fabulous job making cap-related info user friendly, and he’s just all-around awesome. (Thanks to Kirk Luedeke and Court Lalonde for connecting me to the wealth of Bruins info that is Dom. I digress.)
I have been assuming that Lohrei (no waivers required) would start the season in the AHL, and I still don’t see a pathway for the Ohio State product open the season with the NHL team.
Until this weekend, the feeling here had been that management likes what it has well enough to avoid sending a discouraging message to another bubble player who either worked his tail off for a promotion from the AHL (Marc McLaughlin) at the most-opportune time he’ll ever see in this organization (if not his career) or another player (Brown) who signed with Boston as a free agent (because there were beaucoup jobs available). I was obviously wrong in the case of Brown (a free agent whom they signed to a two-year deal). Greer was entering the final year of a two-year, two-way deal before last season, and given some bad game-management penalties last season and the fact he did not get into a playoff game, I was frankly surprised to see him at this camp (not only was he there, but both GM Don Sweeney and Coach Jim Montgomery brought him up in discussion with a media core that had not asked).
The two cuts made on Oct. 4 that might leave a scar: McLaughlin and Georgii Merkulov.
McLaughlin played hard, battled and competed in a camp that was relatively timid for too many other candidates. If a player is ever going to struggle to regenerate his mojo in the AHL this season, he’s the guy. That would be a shame. The Bruins need feisty. Hopefully for his own sake, McLaughlin will find the on switch quickly and not miss another in-season opportunity should the lineup that opens the season not be one management feels like looking at past the holidays.
Merkulov is an undrafted, late bloomer who proved himself a more-than-competent pro last winter in the AHL, leading the P-Bruins in scoring with 24-31-55 totals in 67 games. His NHL camp was spotty. Merkulov has his Datsyukian moments, then looks at other times like he’s thinking when he should be battling. About to turn 23 (Tuesday), it’s far from over, but I can’t help thinking about Merkulov and remembering Sergei Zinovjev and Alex Khokhlachev, a pair of centers whom the Bruins drafted 40th (2000) and 73rd (2011) overall, respectively. Both struggled in North America, left and found traction in the KHL. The 43-year-old Zinovjev is now GM of the KHL team he played for.
Why Ian Mitchell ahead of Lohrei? NHL experience cannot be underrated on a team that cannot afford to learn defense on the job. As promising a talent as Lohrei is, he’s got a ton of development ahead this season that is best accomplished in the American League. Mitchell is the most experienced of the three young defensemen that came back from Chicago in the Taylor Hall trade.
The Kevin Shattenkirk signing that followed in the wake of that trade fortified the Bruins’ new powerplay with veteran presence in the quarterback position. Mitchell aspires to a career like Shattenkirk’s, but given the certainty that Boston’s Jennings-winning goalie tandem will not benefit from the same run support as they did in 2022-23 (at 305, the Bruins put up the second-most goals for in the NHL behind Edmonton’s 325), a more consistent powerplay was prioritized. With two right-shot, minute munchers in Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, Sweeney can protect most of Shattenkirk’s 5-on-5 matchups.
A review of the camp-cut timeline:
Oct. 8: Patrick Brown and A.J. Greer placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. Jesper Boqvist, Oskar Steen and Jakub Zboril assigned to Providence.
Oct. 7: Jesper Boqvist, Oskar Steen and Jakub Zboril placed on waivers for purpose of assignment.
Oct. 6: Brandon Bussi will report to Providence Bruins Training Camp.
Oct. 4: Jayson Megna placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. Trevor Kuntar, Marc McLaughlin and Georgii Merkulov will report to Providence.
Oct. 3: Alec Regula, Dan Renouf, Anthony Richard, Reilly Walsh and Parker Wotherspoon placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. Mike Callahan and Fabian Lysell will report to Providence.
Oct. 2: Kyle Keyser placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. John Farinacci will report to Providence.
Oct. 1: Alex Chiasson released from his PTO. Michael DiPietro placed on waivers for purpose of assignment. Frederic Brunet and Brett Harrison will report to Providence.
Sept. 29: Jackson Edward will report to the London Knights of the OHL. Ryan Mast will report to Providence.
Sept. 28: Joey Abate, Vincent Arseneau, Justin Brazeau, Curtis Hall, Owen Pederson, Ethan Ritchie, Shane Starrett and Luke Toporowski will report to Providence.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 