Bruins roster projection, version 2.0: Some shuffling on the backend

The Bruins are two-thirds of the way done with their preseason, and following Monday’s road contest in Philly, they’ll have all be just one more 60-minute warmup away from their regular season preparation.

And this camp has gone like you’d expect for the Bruins in many respects. In what was always a crowded NHL grouping, there’s been little room for movement for some of the organization’s tweeners. And even the ones who have been impressive find themselves in an undoubtedly uphill climb towards bumping an established veteran out of a job.

So, with a few weeks of camp and four preseason tilts in the rearview, just where do the Bruins stand?

Forwards

• Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak

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  In action for two preseason games to date, the Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak has dominated the puck for a 77.8 corsi-for percentage and 8-3 shot advantage in just over 21 minutes of five-on-five action. All three members of the line scored a goal in Saturday's overtime loss to the Rangers, too. There's no doubt this line looks ready for the start of the season.

• Taylor Hall – Charlie Coyle – Craig Smith

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  The Bruins are convinced that Charlie Coyle will be ready to start the season. But the 6-foot-3 center, who shed the non-contact jersey last week, has yet to appear in a game through four preseason contests, is definitely running out of daylight to get into the mix for a preseason contest. But perhaps the Bruins aren't worrying about considering their 10-day gap between the end of the preseason and start of the 2021-22 season. There's more than enough time to get him truly ready.

• Jake DeBrusk – Eric Haula – Nick Foligno

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  As unlikely a match as it may have seemed out of the gate, the B's might have something with this DeBrusk-Haula combo. Lot of speed and a lot of jump. This seems especially true in the case of DeBrusk, who is 'clean slating it' after a horrendous 2021 season, and looks the part, with two goals and the second-most individual scoring chances this preseason.
  
  “They seem to have chemistry,” Cassidy said of his projected third line. “They’re moving the puck around, they’re kind of all new to each other, playing together, so there’s no built-in biases or anything like that.
  
  "Jake and Haula like to play with straight-line speed. Foligno will go to the net. One thing about Nick is he’s been around, he’s smart. Probably complement players in a lot of different ways with the way he plays the game. Certainly has the IQ to keep up with anybody. It’s worked out so far."
• Trent Frederic – Tomas Nosek – Curtis Lazar

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  I don't believe this has been a good camp for Trent Frederic. In fact, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy was critical of Frederic following the forward's first two preseason showings. Frederic didn't come up in Cassidy's postgame conference following his third appearance of the fall (then again, he wasn't really asked about No. 11), which I suppose is a good thing, but it feels fair to wonder just how tight his grip is on a roster spot come Oct. 16. Now, it does help that he's not someone the Bruins want to risk losing via waivers and that the Bruins want to keep Nosek in the middle, but there's no denying that the Bruins need more from Frederic to make you feel like this line is an automatic.
  
  Nosek, meanwhile, is determined to build off a successful 2021 season in Vegas — especially from a five-on-five production standpoint — and appeared downright determined to either score a goal and/or kill a Ranger goaltender last Saturday. Maybe both, in fact. Neither happened, but it was a definite sign of what the Czech pivot can do in the offensive zone.

Defense

• Derek Forbort – Charlie McAvoy

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  The Bruins appear set to begin the season with the Forbort-McAvoy pairing. This is a bit like last year's Lauzon-McAvoy pairing in the sense that it's the Bruins believing that putting McAvoy with a stay-at-home type will allow him to take more chances offensively and be the team's fourth forward on the attack. It's also something McAvoy has done in the past, previously playing with Zdeno Chara prior to the Bruins moving on from their longtime captain in 2020. 
  
  Forbort is more Chara than Lauzon, at least when it comes to his size alone, as Forbort stands at 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds, and looks every bit to that listed height and weight. 
  
  "It's been fun playing with him," McAvoy said earlier this camp. "He's big. He's got a long stick and we've been breaking up plays pretty well and still getting acclimated and talking a lot through it all."
  
  The good news is that the early results — again, this is the preseason, so maybe it’s wise not to get too high or low either way — seem promising. In just over 23 minutes of five-on-five play together this fall, the Forbort-McAvoy pairing has a 9-4 advantage in shots and 11-6 edge in scoring chances. There's some obvious stuff that needs work (puck-play decisions and tendencies remain a work in progress), but given their time together, this feels like your No. 1 pairing to begin the year. 

• Mike Reilly – Brandon Carlo

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  This pairing has been a constant this camp, and there's no reason to think they'll be split up. This duo played over 124 minutes together during the 2021 postseason and the results were largely positive, with the Bruins holding a 60-55 advantage in shots and 14-11 advantage in high-danger scoring chances with 'em out there. 

• Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Clifton

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  The Bruins are expected to throw it back to the 2019 postseason with a projected third pairing with Matt Grzelcyk to the left of Connor Clifton. It's an interesting mix, really, and it's especially interesting for Clifton, as this is the first time in his entire Boston run that he hasn't had to outwork multiple bodies ahead of him on the Black and Gold's depth chart. 
  
  But that comes with its own challenges, as noted by Cassidy. 
  
  “I don’t know if it’s easier because there’s guys who want that spot, but It’s certainly a clearer path for him in terms of who his competition is,” Cassidy said. “His competition now becomes a little more of guys where he was [in the past]."
  
  "I've kind of been in every situation with this organization from the stands to playing the left side, right side with many different guys," Clifton said. "Wherever I end up is fine with me. I'm trying to make this team better."
  
  The Bruins believe Clifton can do that with a measure 'Cliffy Hockey' approach, too. 
  
  "The message [to Clifton] is: You’ve earned it, now keep it. Don’t play yourself out of it," Cassidy said. "Because Connor has a tendency to get a little rogue sometimes, which is a plus for us, but don’t play yourself out of a spot by being that.
  
  "Pick your spots and keep growing your game.”
  
  On this third pairing with Grzelcyk, that'll mean providing an edge with physicality and shot-blocking. 

Goaltenders

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  Free agent addition Linus Ullmark is off to a less-than-stellar start with his new team. Through two appearances, Ullmark has surrendered six goals on 32 shots, 'good' for an .813 save percentage. It's probably worth mentioning that there's been some bad luck in there, sure. In addition to the overtime blunder, Ullmark was beat with a bad bounce, a screened shot, and a penalty shot in Saturday's full-game effort against the Rangers. But when you shell out $20 million, you probably expect and/or need a bailout save along the way. Not sure Ullmark has given you that. The obvious disclaimer: It's the preseason and these games are all about ironing out the kinks, so it's probably not worth panicking yet.
  
  Second-year pro Jeremy Swayman, meanwhile, has gotten better with each showing — even in practice, for that matter — and stopped 16-of-18 in last Thursday's preseason win over the Flyers. That performance bumped the Alaska-born netminder's preseason save percentage up to .919, and with stops on all but two of the 13 high-danger shots faced.

Extra skaters

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  Fourth-line banger Chris Wagner is ready to fight tooth and nail for his minutes this season, and it appears that he's going to have to do exactly that, as he's yet to get any sort of game reps with fourth-line center Tomas Nosek.
  
  It's probably a bit telling that John Moore has been playing the majority of camp on the right side. He's likely the first one up should an injury or inconsistency strike the right side of the B's defense.
  
  I think the best way for Jakub Zboril to get onto this roster is with some penalty-killing action. There's most definitely an opening on this roster and in that role once you get beyond the obvious Forbort-Carlo rock the team will lean on in 2021-22. The problem within that for the 2015 first-round pick: Zboril has been called for two penalties (an offensive-zone crosscheck and a hold) in 38:10 of action this preseason. Can't kill from the box.

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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.