Bruins recall one of Providence’s hottest scorers
With Matt Poitras out for the rest of the season, and on the heels of an ugly 4-1 loss to the Flames, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney has made a call to Providence. And for one of the hottest skaters on the P-Bruins roster, too, with winger Anthony Richard officially recalled by the Bruins.
A 27-year-old left shot, Richard will join Boston’s roster in the midst of a season that’s included 19 goals and 38 points in 41 games with AHL Providence, and a run that’s featured 14 goals and 23 points over 17 games since Dec. 22.
And over that recent 17-game run, Richard has at least one point in all but two of Providence’s 17 games played.
Capable of playing both left wing and right wing (as well as some center if necessary), Richard’s top asset is his speed and ability to use that speed to create opportunities for himself and linemates. In training camp, the Bruins tried Richard in a variety of roles, and even had him skate with Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak for a brief spell.
A veteran of 463 AHL games since 2016, Richard has made 15 NHL appearances in his career, with 13 of them coming with the Canadiens last season. Richard’s 13-game NHL run with Montreal included three goals and five points, as well as 13 shots and 25 hits, while averaging less than 10 minutes per game.
Richard was not at Boston’s morning skate on Thursday, which would seemingly indicate that he is likely to begin his call-up as a 13th forward. But the Bruins also gave Brad Marchand the morning off due to ‘maintenance’ and Jim Montgomery is always a wild card when it comes to his lineups, so anything is possible when it comes to Thursday against Vancouver.
Especially against a Canucks team that’s scoring like crazy.
The Bruins do know that they will make at least one change for Thursday’s head-to-head with the West-best Canucks, though, with defenseman Parker Wotherspoon set to draw back into the lineup and in for Kevin Shattenkirk.
Bruins issue disappointing update on Matt Poitras
Dec 2, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Mathew Poitras (51) pursues the play against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. (Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports)
In what was a ‘call his shot’ type of summer and training camp for the 2022 second-round pick, Poitras repeatedly said that he wanted to make it difficult for the Bruins to send him back to juniors. And he did exactly that from rookie camp through training camp, as Poitras became the first B’s forward to make the NHL roster out of training camp in an NHL-or-CHL situation since Tyler Seguin in 2010.
Poitras started off hot, too, and ensured that he was not going back to Guelph after nine games, with five goals and 11 points through 22 games.
Oct 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Matthew Poitras (51) skates with the puck against the Florida Panthers during the first period at the TD Garden. (Brian Fluharty/USA TODAY Sports)
But as the physical toll and grind began to take its toll on Poitras, the Bruins began to implement more “load management” techniques. It started with the occasional healthy scratch here and there, and even graduated to the Bruins loaning Poitras to Team Canada for the 2024 World Juniors.
It also didn’t help that Poitras’ hot start put him on notice whenever teams saw the Bruins on their schedule. And Poitras took an absolute beating as his notoriety began to grow.
Whether it was an elbow, a stick, a forearm, or a glove, it seemed like Poitras took shot after shot after shot.
Of course, part of that is and was simply a result of Poitras’ DNA. A player who wanted to model his game after players like the Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli, Poitras continued to “stick his nose in there.” Even when he was taking an absolute pounding, Poitras remained smiling and told you he ‘loved’ that part of hockey.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 21: Matthew Poitras #51 of the Boston Bruins during warmups at Crypto.com Arena on October 21, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Still, it all began to add up.
In fact, Poitras absorbed 5.84 hits per 60 minutes of all-situation hockey in 2023-24. That was tops among all Bruins (minimum 400 minutes), and ranked 27th out of 348 forwards. Given his size, as well as the simple fact that Poitras was a teenager going against men, that rate was almost always bound to lead to some trouble.
But oddly enough, it appears that Poitras’ season-ender came on an attempted hit of his own, with Poitras bouncing off the Coyotes’ Sean Durzi and landing awkwardly on his shoulder in a Jan. 9 game in Arizona.
Matt Poitras went down the tunnel after this big collision with Sean Durzi#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/w4o4Hc2mXE
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 10, 2024Poitras would exit that contest, and missed the four games that followed, but ultimately made his return to the lineup in the Black and Gold’s blowout victory over the Canadiens on Jan. 20.
It would be one of just three Poitras made before undergoing surgery on Wednesday.
Oct 30, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Matthew Poitras (51) takes a shot against the Florida Panthers during the first period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
As for the surgery itself, a ‘shoulder stabilization’ procedure is something somewhat familiar to the Bruins, as both Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy underwent a form of it in 2022. (The same surgeon who operated on Poitras also operated on both Grzelcyk and McAvoy in 2022.)
And as noted, the five-month recovery timeline almost guarantees that Poitras will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season. Even if Poitras were to jump the timeline by a month, that would be right in the thick of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (maybe even the Final itself), and the Bruins definitely wouldn’t want to throw him into that kind of environment after such an invasive procedure.
In action for 33 games this year, Poitras will finish his regular season with five goals and 15 points, and if there’s any good news about his absence, it’s that the 33-game sample will not count as a full year of service for Poitras, meaning that Poitras is not closer to ‘UFA’ status.
