When it comes to his 2023-24 season, it’s actually a pretty simple breakdown for Bruins prospect Matt Poitras, really.

It’s either the 2022 second-round pick sticks around beyond training camp and suits up for the Bruins and begins his National Hockey League career as a teenager, or he heads over 500 miles outside of Boston city limits and back to Guelph for yet another season in the Ontario Hockey League. Unlike the Fabian Lysell decision from a year ago, Providence is not an option for Poitras, and neither is ECHL Maine for that matter. (Sorry, Portland-based B’s fans.)

In other words, this training camp is going to require Poitras being downright undeniable for the B’s front office.

“Obviously the goal is to try and make the Bruins,” Poitras admitted. “It’d be a dream come true to play in the NHL. But I think [I want to] just put my best foot forward and try and make it as difficult as possible for them to send me back to juniors. I can’t play in the AHL this year, so just make it a difficult decision to send me back to play in juniors.”

• 

  Jul 8, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CANADA; Matthew Poitras gives an interview after being selected by the Boston Bruins in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

• And through two sessions, the Bruins have done their part to put Poitras in a position to succeed, with Poitras in between Jesper Boqvist and David Pastrnak during the B’s split-squad sessions.

  “He’s one of the best players in the world, so any time you can skate with a guy like that, you got to try and raise your level of compete and play,” Poitras said of skating next to Pastrnak. “So, that was pretty cool.”

  Pastrnak has made a habit out of making everybody look good, of course, but Poitras’ skill has not gone unnoticed. Nor should it follow a 2022-23 campaign that featured 95 points (fifth-most in the OHL) and 79 assists (second-most in the OHL). 

  “He’s a high-end thinker,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Poitras. “He’s shown the ability to make a lot of plays. I mean, he had 80 assists almost last year in the OHL, so almost one and a half per game, right? So playmaking center, so [let’s] see what he can do with a proven goal scorer [like Pastrnak]. That’s the thinking there. You want to see if there’s chemistry.”

  Watching Poitras up close, it’s clear the 19-year-old is taking this camp seriously, and that’s he’s giving it all he’s got in each and every drill. On Friday alone, there were multiple instances of the 5-foot-11, 176-pound center winning his battle and coming out no worse for wear. (Perhaps that’s to be expected when Poitras himself cites players like Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli as two centers he tries to emulate.)

  And while skating has been the knock on Poitras, he skates with this sort of craftiness or borderline sneakiness that allows him to get inside ice for high-danger scoring advantages, sometimes to the point where you go, “How the hell did he just get there?” That’s never a bad quality, especially if your skating game isn’t considered the strongest.

  It’s almost a certainty that Boston won’t have to wait long to get a good look at their top non-pro prospect, too, with Poitras likely among those who will be in action when the preseason gets underway Sunday at TD Garden, as the Bruins are expected to go with the veteran minimum for that contest.

  “Just try to be a surprise,” Poitras said of his goal for this training camp and presason. “I’m still young — but why not this year trying to make the Bruins, try play the NHL.”

• Farinacci settling into life as a pro

  

  EDMONTON, AB – JANUARY 04: John Farinacci #25 of the United States celebrates a goal against Finland during the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship semifinals at Rogers Place on January 4, 2021. (Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)

• While everyone else was signing on with their new teams in July, Harvard’s John Farinacci had to sit on the sidelines until mid-August. One of the game’s top college free agents but drafted by the Coyotes, the NHL’s CBA forced Farinacci to sit and wait patiently for his name to officially hit the market, and it didn’t take long for the New Jersey native to land on Boston as the true starting scene for his pro career.

  But now that he’s officially here, what’s life been like in a crash course on becoming a pro hockey player?

  “A bit of a long summer, but just being patient with it all,” Farinacci, who recorded 25 goals and 61 points in 79 games with the Crimson from 2019 through 2023, said. “I couldn’t be happier to be here at the moment in such a great organization.”

  As for what’s on the immediate horizon for the 22-year-old forward, it’s always interesting when a team signs a top NCAA free agent because it often means an accelerated path to the NHL. Through two days of camp, however, Farinacci has spent the majority of his time skating with players likely to be with AHL Providence this season, which could be a sign that that won’t be the case for him out of the gate.

  That’s something that doesn’t seem to irk Farinacci or make him question his decision to join the B’s.

  “It’s everyone’s dream to play in the NHL so that is the goal for sure,” Farinacci admitted. “But like I said earlier, I’m just going to put my best foot forward and whatever the organization thinks is best for my development and my career I’ll take it in stride.”

• The early read on defenseman Mason Lohrei

  

  Oct 7, 2022; Columbus, Ohio, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes defenseman Mason Lohrei (6) takes a shot during the NCAA men’s hockey game against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Schottenstein Center. (Adam Cairns/The Columbus Dispatch)

• On the ice for what is his first NHL training camp, Bruins prospect Mason Lohrei is doing what he can to turn some heads. On Friday, Lohrei had a notable sequence where he stepped up in the neutral zone, intercepted a pass, and carried it on for a strong scoring chance that clanged off the post.

  That’s just a taste of what the 6-foot-4 defender can bring to the sheet at the attacking end of the ice, and there’s no doubt that the Ohio State alum has caught the eye of his head coach.

  “I notice a real good hockey player,” Montgomery said of Lohrei. “He’s had two good days and I think he needs to continue upon that. It’s his first camp as well. And every day we preach to everybody, we get better as a group and individual we gotta get better so the group gets better. And he’s done that so far.”

  For all his success so far and for all the hype, I do believe Lohrei is prone to being a victim of ‘shiny new toy’ symptom where we all want to see him and we want to see him now. And Lohrei’s timeline to the NHL can vary depending on who you ask, so I wanted to toss that question Montgomery’s way and get his own thoughts. But like any coach, Montgomery is focused on the here and now, but was always mindful not to shut any doors.

  “I’m not looking too far ahead, to be honest,” Montgomery told me. “I’m just worried about this training camp and how people are developing through camp. If he earns the right to make the team, he’ll make the team.”

• McAvoy finding voice as B’s leader

  

  Apr 13, 2023; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) prepares for a face off against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the Bell Centre. (Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

• Fun fact: According to a survey he once filled out, Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy wears No. 73 because it’s Patrice Bergeron’s number backwards. And when Bergeron retired, McAvoy said that he promises to carry on what Bergeron started. Of course, that didn’t lead to McAvoy being named captain of the Bruins — that honor went to Brad Marchand (though it’ll eventually go to McAvoy, too) — but it also doesn’t mean that McAvoy is unable to be a leader for this team in every sense of the word.

  McAvoy helped set the tone Thursday with his minor, minor, minor dust-up with Marchand, and with McAvoy set to wear the ‘A’ this year with David Pastrnak, it’s clear the Bruins are going to lean on his voice and style.

  “I don’t know if it’s just because he has a training camp this year than it was last year, But just the way he carries himself, his swagger and his confidence on the ice and in the dressing room, I think it’s just easier for him to focus on the player that he is for us; a dominant hockey player in our league,” Montgomery said. “And I think it just comes from how he’s not worried about how his rehab is going. He’s just worried about getting ready. And that helps his leadership qualities just because when your best players are confident, everybody follows.”

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