Bruins make multiple roster moves
The Bruins’ flight to New Jersey on Tuesday came with two late additions, as the club officially recalled forwards Patrick Brown and Max Jones from AHL Providence.
Providence’s captain, Brown comes back to Boston with nine goals and 25 points in 37 games for the P-Bruins, and with three goals and nine points in his last 10 outings for the club. A ‘steady’ veteran-type player capable of playing both center and wing, Brown has made one appearance for the Big B’s this season, with two shots and a hit in 12:42 of time on ice in a Nov. 17 loss to the Stars.
Now in his second season with the Bruins organization, the 32-year-old Brown reports back to the big club with one assist, 29 hits, and wins in 17 of his 37 faceoffs in 12 games with Boston over the last two seasons, and projects as a fourth-line fill-in player if he draws into action on Wednesday.
Jones, meanwhile, is coming back to Boston with eight goals and 11 points in 26 outings for the P-Bruins since clearing waivers and reporting to the minors back in November. Jones is also coming back to Boston on a bit of a heater, with a two-goal outing against Syracuse this past weekend.
Signed by the Bruins last summer, Jones ran into some downright horrific penalty trouble with the B’s out of the gate this season, with the 26-year-old Jones assessed four minor penalties in just 44:51 of total time on ice over four games with the Bruins, including two in the offensive zone in his penultimate B’s appearance. That had the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Jones on a rate of 5.35 minor penalties per 60 minutes, which was the second-highest rate among a group of 412 NHL forwards with at least 40 minutes of time on ice at the time of his move to the waiver wire back in November.
But Jones plays with pace that the Bruins want to have in their bottom six, and that could be needed for Wednesday’s showdown with the Devils, especially if forward Trent Frederic‘s illness keeps him out of action for what would be a second straight absence.
It could also be a need for the club given the corresponding move that came with the recalls, as the Bruins placed Mark Kastelic back on the injured reserve.
Kastelic, who made his return from the injured reserve and to the lineup last Saturday in Ottawa, left Monday’s game early with an undisclosed injury after just seven minutes of time on ice.