Camp Notebook: Is Bruins’ roster logjam a double-edged sword for next wave of young talent?

BRIGHTON — The Bruins opted to roll the dice in 2021, embracing a youth movement in the midst of a win-now window in hopes that a pool of prospects bubbling to the surface would be able to shore up multiple vacancies across the lineup. 

The rationale was there, even with the risk that came with slotting unproven youngsters like Jakub Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon, Jack Studnicka and others into key roles in an effort to supplement the lofty talent already entrenched on the roster. 

It was a decision that ultimately blew up in Boston’s face, prompting mid-season deals to address deficiencies in key areas and leading to a lack of depth that was subsequently picked apart by the Islanders during the postseason. 

Having been burnt once already by dipping into their prospect pipeline in search of surefire contributors, Don Sweeney and the B’s reversed course this summer — adding NHL talent like Nick Foligno, Erik Haula, Derek Forbort and Tomas Nosek to the mix in order to fill out the rest of the lineup.

The resulting training-camp roster — split into two groups and totaling close to 60 total players — might stand as the deepest grouping assembled during Bruce Cassidy’s tenure as Boston’s bench boss, even with the looming questions still present at spots like goaltender and second-line center. 

For Sweeney and Cassidy, depth often cultivates competition — and internal roster battles have stood as a key principle for the Bruins when it comes to getting the most out of the current talent in place on the ice. 

And with Foligno, Haula, Nosek and Jake DeBrusk presumably taking up at least four of the six open spots on Boston’s bottom-six unit, the pressure is on for a crop of other NHLers to fight for the guaranteed reps still up for grabs. 

“We have a pretty good idea of what our lineup is going to look like — it's just where the pieces go, that type of thing,” Cassidy said of Boston’s extensive training camp roster. 

As stressful as it might be for proven NHLers like Curtis Lazar and Chris Wagner that they might have to battle with one another for shifts on the fourth line, the Bruins often view these roster scraps as a good problem to have — in which a loaded depth chart forces the cream to rise to the top. 

But teams like the Bruins can also walk a dangerous line between encouraging (and reaping the benefits of) internal competition — and stymying an influx of young talent due to a glut of NHLers at the next level.

For as much as some of the usual suspects pacing Boston’s prospect pipeline in recent years such as Zboril, Zach Senyshyn and Urho Vaakanainen have struggled to carve out regular roles up at the NHL level over the last couple of years — those developmental setbacks shouldn’t cloud the fact that players such as Jack Ahcan or Jakub Lauko are also capable of making significant pushes for NHL reps this season. 

But even if youngsters knocking at the door like Lauko have taken positive steps forward with each new season under their belt, it can be hard to open a camp with much enthusiasm when the depth chart is currently constituted as such: 

The blue chips in Boston’s pipeline may not be arriving for at least a few more years in names like Fabian Lysell or Mason Lohrei, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility for a guy like Lauko to push for a fourth-line spot as soon as this preseason. And even though he sure seems to be on the outside looking in at guaranteed reps out of camp — the Bruins will certainly welcome a scenario in which Studnicka makes them think twice about penciling in Coyle or Haula into their respective spots down the middle. 

He might be a top-line stalwart now, but Brad Marchand can remember those days in which he found himself in a similar spot as guys like a Lauko or Ahcan — their hopes of a fruitful camp hampered upon taking a look at the dearth of opportunities in front of them. 

“It's tough. It's frustrating for young guys coming into a camp like this where you feel like you're ready,” Marchand said. “You want to be in the NHL. Everyone wants to be here. When you get drafted, no one wants to go back to junior or college or the minors,  you want to make that jump and you come in and you can see — We’ve got, what, 13-14 guys with one-ways (contracts) up front? And 7-8 one-ways on D and two or three goalies?”

“So you're looking at what you can do, but that's when you got to kind of pick a guy and try to push him out. You find the guy that you think you can push out and try to lean on him and try and pick a spot. The worst thing that's gonna come out of that? You have a great camp and you're the next guy that gets called up. If you want to be realistic about it, it's like 97% of guys start in the minors.”

Of course, from the Bruins’ perspective, even stacking the deck against some of their prospects can still be framed as a positive. Because if, say, a Studnicka can leapfrog Haula and take a 3C gig, or a Lauko can push for a fourth-line spot out of camp, those efforts will more than warrant some NHL reps — considering the arduous depth chart they needed to summit to get to that point. 

“It's up to those young guys to push those older guys,” Cassidy said. “It's up to us to identify — 'Hey, this guy is close to beating that guy. ... He could pass him.' So now you have younger guys in the lineup. 

“So it falls on a little bit on the player and us as a staff to make sure we identify and give them a decent opportunity — not just coming in here and say 'Hey, you got no chance. We'll see you in six months or next year.' I think there are guys that we feel are very close. And maybe some other guys will surprise us."

OTHER CAMP NOTES

Well, it took approximately *checks watch* three hours into camp for the first question to get lobbed out into the open regarding Tuukka Rask’s potential return later this season. In what should be a recurring trend for at least the first few months of the 2021-22 season, Linus Ullmark isn’t fretting about any potential dominoes that won’t drop until at least early 2022. 

“I stay in the present,” Ullmark said. “Stay in the moment. That's something for the future. It's nothing that I focus on right now. Like I said, that's what my priorities are right now.” 

However, Cassidy did note that Rask has indeed been at Warrior in order to receive off-ice treatment as he looks to recover from offseason hip surgery. Of course, with Rask not currently signed by Boston, there is a limit in terms of how much treatment Rask can receive at Warrior — and he’ll likely have to find another venue that’s not Boston’s official practice rink in order to get his on-ice work in. 

"We've talked to both goalies about our entire goaltender situation and where Tuukka is at. I can only go by Tuukka has told me and everyone else — that'd he like to stay and return to Boston,” Cassidy said. “So we understand that. I think the goalies understand that. 

“But it's way too early to say that's a definite or it's not happening. Can it get sticky? It could. If it does get sticky, we got to do right by the guys that are signed here. ... I think Tuukka acknowledged that. He's a good pro. He's a good person.  I don't think he's here trying to create any issues, I think he's just trying to get healthier, to be honest with you."

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Marchand not fretting about Bergeron’s future - or his own

In terms of another season-long storyline that I’m sure will plague headlines for most of the year, Marchand didn’t take the bait when it came to the discourse surrounding Patrice Bergeron’s future after his current contract expires next season. 

He saved his commentary regarding Bergeron’s pending decision for another day, but he was also quick to prop up his captain’s on-ice play. 

“I mean, you see the level he's playing at,” Marchand said of Bergeron. “He's still the best two-way forward in the league. Getting robbed every year for the Selke. It's completely up to him. He has the potential and is still at the top of his game. ... This is the year we're kind of worried about and focused on and kind of go from there at that point.”

As for whether or not Marchand — who will turn 34 next May — is starting to ponder about when he will eventually hang up his skates? 

“‘Til they boot me out of the league,” Marchand said of when he might retire. “Which, with my history, it could be tomorrow. But that's one thing that you talk to a lot of the older guys that have retired and moved on — the feedback is play as long as you can. 

“Once you're done, it's not coming back and you've got a long life ahead of you. So that's kind of how I tend to look at it. Maybe that transition as I go from first to second, third and fourth line again — who knows? Maybe I'll be a defenseman at one point. But yeah, it's a long time (away).”

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An early look at lines

It’s often a perilous venture to tweet out lines from Day 1 of on-ice practices at camp and treat it as gospel, but we did see a couple of combos out there at Warrior that fall in line with some of our expectations entering the preseason: 

Make of them what you will: 

Hall-Studnicka-Smith
DeBrusk-Haula-Foligno
Frederic-Nosek-Lazar

Forbort-McAvoy
Reilly-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Clifton

Jesper Froden, fresh off of a strong performance at the Prospects Challenge up in Buffalo, actually earned some reps with Bergeron and Marchand on Line 1, but of course — take that with a grain of salt. Cassidy did note after practice that Pastrnak will still likely be penciled in on that line, but took some reps with a few youngsters like Lauko on Wednesday morning. 

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I will say, it was good to be back at Warrior and finally back seeing players face-to-face once again. The players themselves may not be *quite* as thrilled, but they at least all kept a good poker face as they welcomed us back to the team video room for the first time since March 2020.