Bruins make final cuts from training camp roster

Don Sweeney and the Bruins have seemingly made their final round of roster cuts, with another four players placed on waivers and another forward assigned to P-Bruins training camp on Sunday.

On the skater front, the Bruins placed defenseman Jonathan Aspirot, along with forwards Matej Blumel and Alex Steeves, on waivers.

Of this group of three, Blumel is undoubtedly the biggest surprise, especially given the way they had utilized him throughout training camp.

Given four games this preseason, Blumel led the team in shots (14), shot attempts (25), individual scoring chances for (13), and was tied for the third-most individual high-danger scoring chances (four). This wasn't just a games played thing, either, as Blumel was at the top of the roster in pretty much every shot-generating category when you rated it out at a per-60 rate.

And the Bruins, for what it's worth, have struggled to generate shots and scoring chances throughout the preseason. Blumel, by most accounts, was considered a definite weapon (even as an extra forward) to help alleviate some of those issues should they have bled into the regular season.

There's also the fact that David Pastrnak helped recruit Blumel to Boston, with the Czech-born winger choosing Boston over Pittsburgh in free agency. In the Dallas pipeline prior to signing with the Bruins, Blumel posted an AHL-best 39 goals and finished with 72 points in 67 games for AHL Texas.

Elsewhere on the waiver wire, the Bruins will also attempt to sneak Michael DiPietro down to AHL Providence. The reigning AHL goalie of the year, DiPietro is coming off a 2024-25 AHL season that featured a 26-8-5 record with a .927 save percentage and 2.05 goals against average.

In the preseason, DiPietro stopped 35-of-42 shots faced (.833 save percentage), but had a strong finish in his final outing of the preseason, headlined by a lockdown third-period performance in Philly.

Whether or not DiPietro is successfully sent to Providence through the waiver wire is a legitimate question for Boston. DiPietro could be an easy claim for a team like Buffalo or Calgary, among others.

And in the only non-waiver move of the day, Bruins also assigned Matt Poitras down to Providence. Speaking after practice last Friday, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm made two things clear when it came to Poitras: He wants him playing in the middle, and he wants him playing big minutes.

That, with Fraser Minten making the Boston roster as its third-line center, is not possible for the Black and Gold right now.

In four appearances this preseason, Poitras did not have point, but had six shots, drew four penalties, and was over 50 percent at the faceoff dot.

But with these cuts, the Bruins (again) seemingly have their Opening Night roster set, with Johnny Beecher and Jeffrey Viel making this roster.

Beecher, at one point on the roster bubble, seemed to be saved by his performance in Philly, which featured a gimme goal by forcing a turnover in the final moment of a period and with some strong penalty-killing efforts.

Viel, meanwhile, appears set to make the Bruins after a preseason effort that featured a game-winning goal in the club's Sept. 27 game in Philadelphia.
Viel made five appearances for Boston last year, with zero points, a minus-1 rating, and 12 hits and 14 minutes in penalties. 

The Bruins will open their season Wednesday night in Washington.