Tuesday was a scheduled off day for the Bruins.
Well, for everybody except general manager Don Sweeney and the rest of the Boston front office, with Boston making three roster moves ahead of the team’s flight to Edmonton.
Just the latest installment of Sweeney’s seemingly never-ending series of cap gymnastics to maximize Boston’s roster between now and the playoffs, Tuesday’s shuffling comes with a bit of everything for the club ahead of what will be a four games in six days stretch with head-to-heads against the Oilers, Flames, Canucks, and Kraken.
Dec 15, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; Boston Bruins center Oskar Steen (62) skates against the New York Islanders during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)
Up front, the first move came with forward Oskar Steen officially reassigned to AHL Providence.
Waived by the club on Sunday, Steen formally cleared waivers during Monday’s matinee against the Stars, making him free to be shuttled down to the minors. In action for 34 games this season, Steen recorded just one goal, and was the only player in the league this year to make at least 30 appearances and not have multiple points to this name.
With the offensive game not there, the 5-foot-10 Steen did try to maximize his impact from a physicality standpoint with 19 blocks and 79 hits over that 34-game run. But it was clear that Steen’s grip on a roster spot had loosened substantially over the B’s sluggish homestand, with back-to-back outings of less than eight minutes before a healthy scratch leading up to Sunday’s move to the waiver wire.
In the final year of a contract that comes with an $800,000 cap hit, Steen’s move down to Providence also (seemingly) impacts his future. Entering this season, Steen needed to make 54 NHL appearances for the Bruins to retain his rights as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent. He’s 20 games shy of that with 26 games to go, meaning that Steen is likely to end the year as a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. (Group 6 UFAs are players who are at least 25 years old and have three years or pro experience but less than 80 NHL games.)
Steen, a sixth-round pick of the Bruins back in 2018, has scored four goals and eight points in 60 NHL games with the Bruins over the last four seasons.
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)
And Boston’s second move, which was more housekeeping than anything else, saw the team place rookie center Matt Poitras on the long-term injured reserve.
The move to the LTIR for Poitras comes almost two weeks after the 19-year-old underwent season-ending surgery on his shoulder. With a timeline of approximately five months, this move doesn’t really a whole lot when it comes to Poitras’ potentially jumping his timeline (even if he did, it’d be in the playoffs where there’s no salary cap). But it does allow the Bruins to use his $870,000 cap hit to recall players from Providence.
The Bruins had this move in their backpocket for when they truly needed the cap space, and decided that ahead of a trek out for a four-game tour of the Western Conference was the time to do it.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS – NOVEMBER 09: Mason Lohrei #6 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Islanders during the first period at TD Garden on November 09, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
And with Steen and his $800,000 cap hit demoted down to the minors and Poitras’ $870,000 moved to LTIR, the Bruins had the cap space to recall defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence.
Sent back down to Providence on Jan. 20 after the Bruins activated Derek Forbort off the LTIR, Lohrei has responded to his ‘demotion’ well, with one goal and seven points in seven games for the P-Bruins over that span. Lohrei even sniped home the overtime winner in his first game back in the minors.
Mason Lohrei calls game. @AHLBruins | #BRIvsPRO pic.twitter.com/PpKMrUTOB3
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) January 22, 2024With Boston on two separate runs this season, the 6-foot-4 Lohrei has posted three goals and six points, along with 25 hits and 47 blocked shots, in 27 games for the Big B’s this season.
Dec 31, 2023; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm (27) handles the puck during the first period of the game between the Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena. (Brian Bradshaw Sevald/USA TODAY Sports)
Lohrei’s recall also comes amid some uncertainty regarding Hampus Lindholm.
Injured in an awkward-looking collision in the third period of Monday’s win over the Stars, Lindholm was not spotted in the locker room following the victory, and the Bruins did not have an update on his status following the game. The Bruins do have Parker Wotherspoon with the club as their seventh defenseman, but the Bruins love to have themselves some options on the backend, and it’s also possible that team could make multiple lineup changes beyond just Lindholm when looking at the recent struggles of Derek Forbort.
Lohrei’s recall, as well as the other moves made today to create some more cap room, leaves the Bruins with just over $91,000 in projected cap space.
