In this latest edition of Boston Bruins News & Rumors, the Bruins have trimmed their roster, placing three players on waivers. In other news, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery weighed in on Matthew Poitras’ chances of making the NHL roster for opening night. Lastly, should Johnny Beecher center the club’s fourth line for the start of the season? Let’s discuss all of this in today’s (Oct. 7) Bruins News & Rumors column.
Bruins Place Zboril & Others On Waivers
The Bruins have made more cuts to their roster, as Jakub Zboril, Jesper Boqvist, and Oskar Steen have all been placed on waivers.
Zboril is the most notable of this trio, as he was one of the Bruins’ first-round picks from the infamous 2015 NHL Entry Draft. The 26-year-old’s spot on the NHL roster was certainly not guaranteed heading into training camp, and newcomer Ian Mitchell simply outperformed him. Now Zboril is available for the taking. In 22 games last season, he had one goal, four assists, and a minus-1 rating.
Boqvist, 24, was one of the many signings the Bruins made this offseason. Some believed that he would be an addition to their bottom six, but other forwards simply performed better at training, hence this waiver placement. There certainly could be a team out there willing to take a chance on Boqvist, as he is still fairly young. In 70 games last season with the New Jersey Devils, he had 10 goals and 21 points. The season before with the club, he posted 23 points in 56 games.
Related: 3 Takeaways From Bruins’ 3-1 Win Over the Rangers
Steen, 25, is the least surprising player out of this bunch to hit the waiver wire. He spent the majority of last season in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Providence Bruins, posting 14 goals and 31 points in 64 games. At one point, he seemed like a future bottom-six forward for Boston, but his value fell off a bit last season.
Poitras Likely Staying Put On Bruins
Poitras was the Bruins’ top star during the preseason, and that naturally has caused a lot of buzz surrounding him. The 19-year-old posted five points in five preseason games and did not look out of place at all playing against professional competition. When asked about if Poitras did enough to avoid being sent back to junior, Montgomery said: “It certainly looks that way. He’s earned the right to stick around for a while, that’s for sure.”
With this coming right from the Bruins’ head coach, it feels safe to say that Poitras will be a Bruin on opening night. He has been seen at practice centering the club’s third line with Trent Frederic. Morgan Geekie and Danton Heinen also have been switching between each other on the line.
With the Bruins desperately needing centers following the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, seeing a kid like Poitras immediately dominate in the preseason was a real treat. Yet, now the youngster will look to translate it over to the regular season.
Beecher Deserves 4C Spot
Although Poitras has been the talk of the town after his strong preseason, Beecher should not be ignored. The 2019 first-round pick was another standout during the preseason and is a candidate to be the club’s fourth-line center because of it.
Beecher, 22, remains with the NHL club at the time of this writing, but more roster cuts are coming. However, in my opinion, Beecher has done more than enough to stick with Boston. He not only contributed offensively this preseason but also played steady defensively and provided physicality. Yet, with players like Patrick Brown, Jakub Lauko, and A.J. Greer all fighting for bottom-six spots, we will need to wait and see what happens with Beecher.
THW Bruins Substack subscribers also weighed their thoughts on whether Beecher should be the Bruins’ fourth-line center in a recent poll. The overwhelming majority voted yes. Clearly, I am not the only one who has been impressed with the 6-foot-3 center.
