Bruins camp report: Ondrej Kase may not travel with club on Sunday, B’s must make roster cuts & more

Given the current climate we’re living in, the Bruins expected a few hiccups and complications during their Phase 3 workouts at Warrior Ice Arena. 

What they likely didn’t expect, however, was taking off to Toronto without a full traveling party.

But that might be the hand that the B’s are ultimately dealt, as Bruce Cassidy noted after Saturday’s final skate in Brighton that the club could be missing a key cog on Sunday when the team heads north of the border. 

“(David) Pastrnak and (Nick) Ritchie — I believe will be traveling. (Ondrej) Kase? I'm not sure. I guess I'll get confirmation on that tomorrow, but that's my understanding.”

Once again, Pastrnak, Kase, Ritchie and Paul Carey were not present on the ice during Saturday’s skate. Pastrnak and Kase only appeared in one of Boston’s 10 full-team practices at Warrior, while Ritchie has now been missing for three consecutive practices. 

While Cassidy was hoping to have a full squad in tow for Sunday’s flight at 5:30 p.m., this news isn’t all that surprising, given Kase’s extended absence and the lack of clarity in terms of the reasoning for his absence. 

Yes, Pastrnak and Ritchie will still need to make up lost time in a hurry once the B’s get back on the ice up in Toronto, but things get much more complicated for a guy like Kase if he is forced to miss the club’s charter on Sunday.





As you can see above in the league's official memo on Phase 4 protocols, the requirements for players/staff traveling up to Toronto via commercial airlines have an uphill climb when it comes to getting back on the ice — headlined by a four-day quarantine in their hotel room until four negative COVID-19 tests are confirmed. If said individual passes those requirements, they will be able to "perform their essential work functions", but must otherwise remain in their hotel room for a following three days. 

As such, there stands a good chance that a player like Kase — if he's forced to travel later this week — could not be available in game situations until the end of round-robin play. Not great — especially when factoring in the lack of time and experience Kase already logged with his new club since getting dealt to Boston back in February. If Kase indeed doesn't get the green light to travel tomorrow, expect to see plenty of Anders Bjork, Jack Studnicka and Karson Kuhlman in top-six spots. 

Here’s the lineup that Boston rolled out for the final Phase 3 practice at Warrior:

Marchand-Bergeron-Bjork
DeBrusk-Krejci-Studnicka
Kuraly-Coyle-Kuhlman
Nordstrom-Lindholm-Wagner
Blidh-Frederic-Senyshyn

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Lauzon
Moore-Clifton
Vaakanainen-Zboril

Rask
Halak
Lagace

Cuts incoming

Before the Bruins do take off for Ontario, they do have a couple of decisions to make.

In order to comply with the 31-player requirement for Phase 4 play, Cassidy said the team will have to make a pair of cuts from its current roster ahead of Sunday. The B's bench boss added that the club will bring aboard all four goaltenders (Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Max Lagace and Dan Vladar) and all 10 defensemen — with the team then forced to trim down its list of 19 available forwards.

Even though Kase may not be cleared to travel by Sunday, it would take a major complication or injury to keep him off the final Phase 4 roster, with those cuts likely coming from Boston's pool of AHL skaters that have taken part in camp. Carey, who has missed the past two practices could be on the outside looking in, while a projected middle-six winger or fourth-line grinder like Zach Senyshyn or Anton Blidh could also be in trouble, given the glut of available talent already present on the roster — especially in regards to those two roles in the lineup.

Chara not focused on future

Torey Krug might draw most of the headlines when it comes to his future as a pending unrestricted free agent, but he’s far from the only blue-line regular whose fate might be a bit murky beyond this summer. 

Zdeno Chara, who turned 43 years old back in March, hasn’t had many issues when it comes to extending his tenure in Boston over the years. 

Since his last major contract (seven years, $45.5 million) expired back in 2018, Chara and Don Sweeney have both signed off on a pair of one-year contracts in March 2018  and March 2019 — with the Bruins seeming to be more than willing to bring back Chara for however long he wants to go before ultimately hanging up his skates. 

As of right now, Chara isn’t dwelling much on what lies beyond this upcoming postseason.

“I honestly just try to stay where my feet are,” Chara said. “I'm focusing on how I'm gonna be playing and performing and I'm open-minded. We'll see what's gonna happen, but as of right now, I'm just really focusing on my performance.”

Don't count Brad Marchand among those expecting the summer of 2020 to be Chara's swan song in the NHL.

"I really don't,” Marchand said. “He just seems like that guy that's gonna play forever. I think you can kind of get a sense when a guy's gonna wrap it up. And he just doesn't have that attitude.

“He's still doing more than everybody, still wants to win more than anyone and the drive that he has internally — it's always talked about ... playing until he's 70, which I think is like two years away. No, I really don't. I think he's gonna play longer and he still has a lot more to give. He's still one of the best defensemen in the league. So I can't see him walking away from the game yet.”