Bruins announce roster for preseason opener vs. Rangers

Author Ty Anderson

September 23rd 8:49 PM

The Bruins aren’t keeping the lineup for Sunday’s preseason opener against the Rangers a mystery.

Instead, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery decided to do everybody a solid and confirm the roster mere hours after the Bruins wrapped up their third straight day of on-ice training camp work at Warrior Ice Arena.

Up front, the B’s will ice a forward group featuring Johnny Beecher, Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic, A.J. Greer, Brett Harrison, Fabian Lysell, and Matt Poitras.

Beecher is certainly a name to watch here given the opportunity for him to make the Bruins as their fourth-line center, while Sunday will also come with the chance to impress for top prospects Fabian Lysell and Matt Poitras. Lysell has made it clear that he wants to challenge for an NHL spot this camp, while the 19-year-old Poitras is in a Boston-or-OHL situation given the NHL-CHL agreement and is looking to become downright undeniable for the Bruins this camp.

Their first chance at impressing will come with some new faces, too, as Lysell will not skate with Brad Marchand or Charlie Coyle (his linemates for the first two days of camp), while Poitras will not have David Pastrnak to his right.

Sunday will also come with the (preseason) debuts of offseason additions Patrick Brown, Morgan Geekie, Jayson Megna, Anthony Richard, and James van Riemsdyk.

It’ll be interesting to see how Geekie gels with Frederic, as the Bruins have by all means entered training camp with the assumption that they will become a go-to duo for the Black and Gold’s third line.

On the backend, Boston’s group of six will be comprised of Mike Callahan, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Reilly Walsh, Parker Wotherspoon, and Jakub Zboril.

Zboril is the current leader in the clubhouse to begin the year as Boston’s No. 7 defenseman, but Mitchell and Walsh are among two of the top threats for that spot, and you can even throw Wotherspoon into that grouping.

In Boston, Brandon Bussi is expected to get the start and play the full 60 for the B’s. He’ll be backed up by Kyle Keyser.

Sunday’s showdown with the Rangers will come with a 5 p.m. puck drop, and can be seen on NESN+.

Bruins Notebook: Can Matt Poitras make life hard on the front office?

• 

  Jul 8, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Matthew Poitras gives an interview after being selected by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

• And through two sessions, the Bruins have done their part to put Poitras in a position to succeed, with Poitras in between Jesper Boqvist and David Pastrnak during the B’s split-squad sessions.

  “He’s one of the best players in the world, so any time you can skate with a guy like that, you got to try and raise your level of compete and play,” Poitras said of skating next to Pastrnak. “So, that was pretty cool.”

  Pastrnak has made a habit out of making everybody look good, of course, but Poitras’ skill has not gone unnoticed. Nor should it follow a 2022-23 campaign that featured 95 points (fifth-most in the OHL) and 79 assists (second-most in the OHL). 

  “He’s a high-end thinker,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Poitras. “He’s shown the ability to make a lot of plays. I mean, he had 80 assists almost last year in the OHL, so almost one and a half per game, right? So playmaking center, so [let’s] see what he can do with a proven goal scorer [like Pastrnak]. That’s the thinking there. You want to see if there’s chemistry.”

  Watching Poitras up close, it’s clear the 19-year-old is taking this camp seriously, and that’s he’s giving it all he’s got in each and every drill. On Friday alone, there were multiple instances of the 5-foot-11, 176-pound center winning his battle and coming out no worse for wear. (Perhaps that’s to be expected when Poitras himself cites players like Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli as two centers he tries to emulate.)

  And while skating has been the knock on Poitras, he skates with this sort of craftiness or borderline sneakiness that allows him to get inside ice for high-danger scoring advantages, sometimes to the point where you go, “How the hell did he just get there?” That’s never a bad quality, especially if your skating game isn’t considered the strongest.

  It’s almost a certainty that Boston won’t have to wait long to get a good look at their top non-pro prospect, too, with Poitras likely among those who will be in action when the preseason gets underway Sunday at TD Garden, as the Bruins are expected to go with the veteran minimum for that contest.

  “Just try to be a surprise,” Poitras said of his goal for this training camp and presason. “I’m still young — but why not this year trying to make the Bruins, try play the NHL.”

• Farinacci settling into life as a pro

  

  EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 04: John Farinacci #25 of the United States celebrates a goal against Finland during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship semifinals at Rogers Place on January 4, 2021. (Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)

• While everyone else was signing on with their new teams in July, Harvard’s John Farinacci had to sit on the sidelines until mid-August. One of the game’s top college free agents but drafted by the Coyotes, the NHL’s CBA forced Farinacci to sit and wait patiently for his name to officially hit the market, and it didn’t take long for the New Jersey native to land on Boston as the true starting scene for his pro career.

  But now that he’s officially here, what’s life been like in a crash course on becoming a pro hockey player?

  “A bit of a long summer, but just being patient with it all,” Farinacci, who recorded 25 goals and 61 points in 79 games with the Crimson from 2019 through 2023, said. “I couldn’t be happier to be here at the moment in such a great organization.”

  As for what’s on the immediate horizon for the 22-year-old forward, it’s always interesting when a team signs a top NCAA free agent because it often means an accelerated path to the NHL. Through two days of camp, however, Farinacci has spent the majority of his time skating with players likely to be with AHL Providence this season, which could be a sign that that won’t be the case for him out of the gate.

  That’s something that doesn’t seem to irk Farinacci or make him question his decision to join the B’s.

  “It’s everyone’s dream to play in the NHL so that is the goal for sure,” Farinacci admitted. “But like I said earlier, I’m just going to put my best foot forward and whatever the organization thinks is best for my development and my career I’ll take it in stride.”

• The early read on defenseman Mason Lohrei

  

  Oct 7, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defenseman Mason Lohrei (6) takes a shot during the NCAA men’s hockey game against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Schottenstein Center. (Adam Cairns/The Columbus Dispatch)

• On the ice for what is his first NHL training camp, Bruins prospect Mason Lohrei is doing what he can to turn some heads. On Friday, Lohrei had a notable sequence where he stepped up in the neutral zone, intercepted a pass, and carried it on for a strong scoring chance that clanged off the post.

  That’s just a taste of what the 6-foot-4 defender can bring to the sheet at the attacking end of the ice, and there’s no doubt that the Ohio State alum has caught the eye of his head coach.

  “I notice a real good hockey player,” Montgomery said of Lohrei. “He’s had two good days and I think he needs to continue upon that. It’s his first camp as well. And every day we preach to everybody, we get better as a group and individual we gotta get better so the group gets better. And he’s done that so far.”

  For all his success so far and for all the hype, I do believe Lohrei is prone to being a victim of ‘shiny new toy’ symptom where we all want to see him and we want to see him now. And Lohrei’s timeline to the NHL can vary depending on who you ask, so I wanted to toss that question Montgomery’s way and get his own thoughts. But like any coach, Montgomery is focused on the here and now, but was always mindful not to shut any doors.

  “I’m not looking too far ahead, to be honest,” Montgomery told me. “I’m just worried about this training camp and how people are developing through camp. If he earns the right to make the team, he’ll make the team.”

• McAvoy finding voice as B’s leader

  

  Apr 13, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) prepares for a face off against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

• Fun fact: According to a survey he once filled out, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy wears No. 73 because it’s Patrice Bergeron’s number backwards. And when Bergeron retired, McAvoy said that he promises to carry on what Bergeron started. Of course, that didn’t lead to McAvoy being named captain of the Bruins — that honor went to Brad Marchand (though it’ll eventually go to McAvoy, too) — but it also doesn’t mean that McAvoy is unable to be a leader for this team in every sense of the word.

  McAvoy helped set the tone Thursday with his minor, minor, minor dust-up with Marchand, and with McAvoy set to wear the ‘A’ this year with David Pastrnak, it’s clear the Bruins are going to lean on his voice and style.

  “I don’t know if it’s just because he has a training camp this year than it was last year, But just the way he carries himself, his swagger and his confidence on the ice and in the dressing room, I think it’s just easier for him to focus on the player that he is for us; a dominant hockey player in our league,” Montgomery said. “And I think it just comes from how he’s not worried about how his rehab is going. He’s just worried about getting ready. And that helps his leadership qualities just because when your best players are confident, everybody follows.”

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Author Ty Anderson

Category:

• Bruins
• News
• Ty Anderson

Tags:

2023 Bruins Training Camp,Boston Bruins