With the start of training camp a mere month away for almost every club, it’s officially camp invite season for veterans on the hunt for NHL work in 2023-24.
And on Monday, Don Sweeney and the Bruins locked down their first invite with the confirmation that winger Alex Chiasson will join the team for next month’s training camp on a professional tryout agreement.
Chiasson’s invite to B’s camp comes on the heels of a 2022-23 campaign that saw him record six goals and nine points in 20 games with Detroit.
Prior to his call up to Detroit, Chiasson recorded nine goals and 20 points in 29 appearances for AHL Grand Rapids in 2022-23.
Mar 8, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex Chiasson (48) ps in front of Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Alex Stalock (32) in the second period at Little Caesars Arena. (Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports)
Standing at 6-foot-4, the right-shooting Chiasson has carved out a noteworthy career as a net-front option, and has morphed his game for power-play excellence, which was certainly the case in his limited role this past season, with five of his six goals for the Red Wings coming via the man advantage.
The Red Wing power play certainly got the most they could out of Chiasson, too, as Detroit clicked at 25.5 percent on the man advantage from Chiasson’s recall through the end of the season. That was the eighth-best percentage in the NHL over that span, with Detroit checking in with the 22nd-best unit in the NHL (20 percent) in the 61 games that came before Chiasson’s move from Grand Rapids to Detroit.
In fact, 30 of his Chiasson’s 61 goals since the start of the 2018-19 season have come on the power play, which ranks as the 53rd-most in hockey over that span, which is even more impressive when considering that Chiasson has appeared in just 270 games over that span. The only players to score as many power-play goals or more in fewer games over that stretch: Gabriel Landeskog, Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson, and Kirill Kaprizov.
Apr 4, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex Chiasson (48) against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at Bell Centre. (David Kirouac/USA TODAY Sports)
Where Chiasson potentially fits into the NHL mix will be an interesting development to watch as Bruins open camp.
If the Bruins are going to maximize Chiasson’s impact, it’ll almost certainly be in that net-front power-play role. But the Bruins brought James van Riemsdyk into the fold for a similar role, and the Bruins have also utilized Jake DeBrusk in a net-front role on their top power-play unit in the past.
But Chiasson does bring the Bruins some potentially necessary right-wing depth, with the club likely to begin the year with a lefty (or two) playing their off wing as currently constituted. The list of left shots slated to potentially play right wing in 2023-24 includes Trent Frederic, Jakub Lauko, and DeBrusk. All three players had considerable experience playing their off side in 2022-23, which is a positive, but a little more balance on that front never hurts.
A detail of the Boston Bruins logo on a player’s sweater during a game. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
The Bruins are currently slated to open training about a month from now, and will kick off a six-game preseason slate starting Sept. 24 against the Rangers.
And with competition like crazy on the board for the Bruins, especially when it comes to bottom-six forward roles.
