The Boston Bruins are mostly locked and loaded for September training camp and the earliest start to the season in recent memory at the end of that month. In fact, in some cases it feels like they almost have too many players, as there’s an overabundance of NHL-talent defensemen given that there is, at most, seven or eight spots on the roster for blueliners.
There is, however, one Bruins player that is still unsigned as the hockey calendar slowly turns toward August, and players begin filtering in for captain’s practices and training sessions to get ready for an abbreviated four-game preseason. Matt Poitras still has not signed a contract to this point, even as fellow P-Bruins teammates like Riley Duran signed on the dotted line over the last few weeks.
The 22-year-old Poitras had 13 goals and 44 points in 69 AHL games last season and scored a goal in three games with Boston, adding to his career NHL totals of seven goals and 27 points in 69 games over parts of the last three seasons. Poitras does not have arbitration rights at this point so there will be no contentious hearings or deadlines where both sides need to figure things out, but it doesn’t feel like any gap in expectations is about money or term with this player.
Instead, it’s much more likely that it’s about contract terms and guaranteed money on a one-way contract rather than the two-way deals that many pro players on the AHL/NHL bubble sign at this juncture in their careers. Either way, Poitras is going to be a fascinating case as a player that’s done everything Boston has asked him to do over the last few seasons while developing at the AHL level.
The playmaking center has become a better two-way player with a more detailed game, and he’s done that while continuing to produce offense and points while also working on the explosive skating and strength areas that needed to improve if he wanted to succeed at the NHL level.
It all leaves Poitras in a crowded forward scene for the Bruins organization where there are a surplus of bottom-6 forwards with Mark Kastelic, Sean Kuraly, Tanner Jeannot, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Alex Steeves, James Hagens, Lukas Reichel and Mikey Eyssimont all potentially fitting that job description on the third or fourth line, and clearly not enough spots for those skaters or other players that emerge as candidates during the fall.
One thing is clear: The Bruins are looking for an NHL spot for Poitras, just as they are with D-man Frederic Brunet, so they do not lose the players on waivers at the end of training camp if it comes to that.
There’s also simply rewarding a young player that’s pushed and shown NHL upside in a way that both Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell did not before moving on to the Colorado Avalanche organization.
“Matty’s [Poitras] played almost 70 games in the League. So from a readiness standpoint and taking somebody’s job full time, that’s the next step for Matty. You know, he’s been a good player,” said Don Sweeney back in June ahead of the NHL Draft. “He’s been a productive player down there. He’s rounding out his game. Needs to, from an entry point. We always talk about where players can have entry points.
“Maybe it’s expanding his role [on the team] from a penalty killing standpoint and having a [greater] understanding of the defensive zone because he’s always been an offensively tilted player. And sometimes you’re not going to play in those roles, you know, when you first get [to the NHL].”
Poitras is essentially in the same situation as the 22-year-old Brunet on the back end, and the 26-year-old Michael DiPietro in between the pipes, coming back after back-to-back stellar seasons at the American Hockey League level. All three have shown in the AHL that they could be ready for regular duty at the NHL level, but that it’s a matter of carving out that niche, and perhaps even diversifying a player’s game as Sweeney referenced when talking about Poitras.
There’s also the distinct possibility that the unsigned Poitras could be used as a trade chip after he was reportedly part of the package, along with D-man Mason Lohrei and a first-round pick, for D-man Rasmus Andersson ahead of the Winter Olympics break in the NHL regular season.
This was also amidst reports from Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman that the Bruins and Poitras weren’t
