The Bruins made a pair of minor tweaks to their roster on a scheduled off day on Tuesday, with the club placing forward Gemel Smith on waivers and assigning Jeremy Lauzon to the Providence Bruins.
Both Smith and Lauzon haven’t seen much action over the last week with the B’s, with Smith tabbed as a healthy scratch for Boston’s last three games. Since Charlie McAvoy’s return to the lineup earlier this month, Lauzon has yet to play — with his last appearance on the ice coming all the way back on Dec. 4 against the Panthers.
Added as a waiver-wire pickup back on Dec. 6, Smith joined Boston’s fourth line as a speedy, skilled player who did boast favorable scoring numbers with higher usage rates during his last stop in Dallas. However, he didn’t make much of an impact with the B’s, averaging 10:00 of ice time with zero points.
If no other NHL team claims Smith, he will be sent down to the Providence Bruins.
An emergency call-up after a string of injuries decimated Boston’s blue line, Lauzon was solid in his first stint up in the NHL — playing in 15 games and averaging 15:32 of ice time while logging reps on the penalty kill.
During the most trying stretches of Boston’s battle with the injury bug, the 21-year-old defenseman averaged 24:11 TOI during back-to-back matchups against the Stars and Coyotes.
BSJ Analysis
There are a couple of factors to process when it comes to Boston’s latest string of roster moves, namely the NHL’s annual roster freeze that comes around during the holiday season.
According to the NHL CBA, a roster freeze goes into effect at 11:59 p.m. local time on December 19 through 12:01 a.m. local time December 28, with respect to waivers, trades and loans.
Players from the AHL can be called up to the NHL from the AHL, while a player on emergency recall may be loaned during the roster freeze period.
Of course, given the lack of playing time for both Smith and Lauzon over the last couple of weeks, it seemed as though the best course of action for both skaters was to send them down to the AHL.
Still a developing defenseman, Lauzon needs the regular reps down with Providence, while Smith wasn’t going to get back into the lineup given the way Boston’s current fourth-line trio of Noel Acciari, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner have fared as of late.
Cassidy noted ahead of Sunday's loss to Buffalo that Smith didn't exactly have the inside track of unseating his go-to players in the bottom six.
He’s got good foot speed, some hands. I just think he has to initiate more, when he’s out there," Cassidy said of Smith. "Whether it’s on the forecheck or attacking with the puck, kind of identify what he is for us. When you’re bringing a player like that in the middle of the year, you want to look at him, but, there are certain guys in our lineup that whether they're struggling ... I still have a certain loyalty to those players so they’re going to have to outplay those guys that we’re sitting out as well. So that’s part of it with Gemel right now, finding out where he fits.
"Sometimes it’s not easy but that’s the business. When you get picked up on waivers, it’s important that the individual really step up and solidify a spot because usually someone’s coming back into the lineup or you’ve decided to make a change for whatever reason. For us, we thought he could add some speed to our lineup. We still always like Noel, and now with the changing of the line, he’s got speed around him so that line should still have some pace to their game that showed in Pittsburgh."