The Bruins have used an off day to trim their training camp roster down by at least a few skaters, with word of three players hitting the league’s waiver wire Tuesday.

This was certainly coming, especially after Monday’s preseason loss to the Devils, with the Bruins looking at just two more preseason tilts remaining on the schedule and with Saturday’s finale against the Devils expected to serve as the dress rehearsal ahead of Oct. 12’s Opening Night in Washington.

Oskar Steen

Sep 24, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Bruins center Oskar Steen (62) against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports)

Up front, the Bruins’ ongoing bottom-six battle has claimed its first victim, as the team will attempt to sneak winger Oskar Steen down through waivers and back onto Providence’s roster.

Steen’s move to waivers comes after a preseason that’s included one goal (a shorthanded tally), four shots, and two penalties taken in over 44 minutes of total time on ice over three games played. And had it not been for a New York backchecker falling down in the neutral zone on the shorthanded rush with Joona Koppanen and Steen, the 5-foot-9 Swedish would very well be looking at a 0-0-0 stat line this fall.

It just wasn’t enough for Steen to establish himself over the competition this camp, and it was apparently enough for the Bruins to risk losing Steen over someone such as Chris Wagner.

Steen, who has been on North American ice since 2019, put up two goals and six points in 20 games with the Big B’s last season, and has totaled 27 goals and 69 points in 132 career games with the P-Bruins.

A sixth-round pick of the team back in 2016, Steen is in the first year of a two-year contract that comes with an $800,000 cap hit. The Bruins have to hope that the second year will scare some teams off when it comes to putting a claim in on Steen.

Connor Carrick

Sep 24, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Connor Carrick (58) against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports)

On the backend, the Bruins waived depth defenseman Connor Carrick.

Signed to a one-year, two-way contract worth $750,000, Carrick hits the wire after a three-game preseason that included five shots on goal, four hits, and three blocked shots. The 28-year-old, who spent last season in the Kraken organization, also battled through an upper-body injury in training camp.

Should he clear, Carrick would remain with the organization in the depth role, and would be among the first guys up from the P-Bruins in the event of an injury. Carrick has a wealth of experience to his name, with 247 career NHL games to his name between the Capitals, Maple Leafs, Stars and Devils. 

Waiving Carrick could mean a couple of things. No. 1 and perhaps most obvious is that the team plans on signing fellow right-shooting defenseman Anton Stralman (with the Bruins on a tryout) to a contract. Or that the Bruins plan on giving Jack Ahcan a chance to stick on the NHL roster out of the gate. I lean towards the former, considering that Stralman has skated with top-pairing defenseman Hampus Lindholm since camp began, and that Ahcan still has minor-league options to his name.

Nick Wolff

Oct 4, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Nick Wolff (65) against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. (Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports)

The other subtraction from the Boston defense corps with the waiving of Nick Wolff.

A 6-foot-5, 223-pound defender hailing from Minnesota, Wolff appeared in two games this preseason, and impressed the Bruins with his physical play, namely with his fight against the Flyers’ Zack MacEwen.

“Good for him [because] MacEwen’s a real tough player in this league,” Bruins head Jim Montgomery said of Wolff’s scrap with the Philly tough guy last Saturday. 

But the Bruins will need Wolff, who put up a career-best eight assists in 32 games with the P-Bruins last season, to work on his quickness with and without the puck to take that next step in his development.

Wolff is signed to a two-way contract worth $750,000 at the NHL level for 2022-23.