A healthy scratch in consecutive games after being bumped down the lineup in Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Maple Leafs, center Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson was reassigned to the Providence Bruins on Sunday.
First given another crack at the Big B’s roster with the Bruins in dire of need for third-line production, Forsbacka Karlsson received a bump up the Boston depth chart upon Patrice Bergeron’s injury, but failed to run with it.
With just two goals and three shots in nine games, Forsbacka Karlsson’s lack of jump on some nights was an obvious bother to B’s head coach Bruce Cassidy, and Forsbacka Karlsson’s struggles at the dot (he won just 32.9 percent of his faceoffs) made him unfit for top-six duty, at least with the Bruins down as many players as they are on the backend.
It eventually led to Forsbacka Karlsson losing his spot on the first line to Colby Cave, while Sean Kuraly’s return sentenced ‘JFK’ to the press box during the team’s recent two-game homestand.
Fosbacka Karlsson was assigned to Providence in time to center the P-Bruins’ second line between Peter Cehlarik and Martin Bakos on Sunday, and finished that game without a point or shot on goal in an overtime loss to the Charlotte Checkers.
Whether or not this has anything to do with the status of free agent center Jan Kovar, skating with the Bruins organization for the last month and a half, remains to be seen. But it’s worth noting that the Bruins mentioned that they would be making a decision on the 28-year-old Kovar “fairly soon” last week, and that JFK’s demotion leaves the Bruins without a healthy center as backup ahead of a two-game road trip through the Sunshine State beginning Tuesday night in Florida.
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