WASHINGTON, D.C. — At this juncture of the calendar — just a few hours ahead of puck drop on a new NHL campaign — most bench bosses and front-office personnel have already checked off plenty on their preseason to-do list.
With six preseason games and weeks of training-camp practices in the rearview mirror, just about all of the roster battles, waiver-wire maneuvers and other personnel-related decisions have been finalized (or at least, they should be.)
For Jim Montgomery and the Bruins, Wednesday’s season-opening lineup against the Capitals won’t deviate too much from the grouping he rolled with a day prior during a skate in Annapolis.
At this point, everything seems to be going according to plan for Boston’s new head coach — including his players’ incomplete grasp of his new tweaks and system overhauls out on the ice.
Montgomery’s emphasis on quality over quantity when it comes to shot generation, puck possession and especially taking the reins off of his defensemen in transition have been regular talking points this preseason.
But just because most of these principles have been preached time and time again, that doesn’t mean that these adjustments are going to translate perfectly out on the ice. Especially in the early going.
"No. Not a chance,” Montgomery said when asked if his team has fully adopted his changes. “And you know what, it doesn't matter. Because you want guys to play with creativity. You want them to play on their toes and not be afraid of making mistakes. If we're, especially me, if I'm correcting too much right now … We'll get it. We'll get there on the Xs and Os. But right now, it's about playing with effort and emotion, more than it is about execution these first couple of weeks.”
Finding a way to drill down systems and some of those Xs and Os into the psyche of a player stands as one of the more challenging balancing acts that a coach must maneuver, according to Montgomery.
For as much as Montgomery has a vision of how he wants his team — especially this pretty fleet-footed personnel in Boston’s room — to play, he finds that most miscues and lapses down both ends of the ice often tend to come when a player is thinking, instead of reacting and letting such a frantic game come naturally to them.
"It's causing them to think, not play. It's an instinctual game. It's a very fluid game and us as coaches have got to give them a footprint to have success," Montgomery said. "We got to let them go out and play it."
Patrice Bergeron, set to play for just his third coach in the past 15 years, has acknowledged that Montgomery’s system does feature a greater pace and more creativity than the frameworks developed by both Claude Julien and Bruce Cassidy.
Still, even with the growing pains that come with learning a new system, the B’s captain doesn’t expect his teammates to be operating with the structure found in a beer-league tilt, either.
"I think we have a pretty good grasp,” Bergeron said. “At the same time, I think that you have to be instinctual on the ice, your hockey sense, read plays. Yes, there is a system and structure — trying to make it as black and white as possible ... But I think it's a work in progress in progress. And we're starting to really, it's down to the fine-tuning at this point. I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of what we want to be as a team."
The waiting game continues with Stralman
The good news? After skating through most of training camp as a PTO (professional tryout) candidate, Anton Stralman doesn’t have to be looking over his shoulder all that much this season, having officially signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Bruins on Wednesday.
The bad news? Despite putting pen to paper on a contract, Stralman will need to wait just a bit longer to officially play in a regular-season game, as the 36-year-old blueliner will need to sort through some visa-related issues first.
"I just learned a new big word, expeditiously,” Montgomery said with a smile. “We're trying to try and get things done quicker on his visa. So he's not eligible until we get that and I don't have a timeline for you.”
Once his immigration issues are settled, Stralman figures to be a steady presence and an effective bit of insurance on the back end — whether it be serving next to Hampus Lindholm in a top-pair role in October/November or potentially slotting into more of a third-pairing spot later on this season, putting pressure on younger players like Connor Clifton and Jakub Zboril as a result.
Even if Stralman eventually figures into more of a 7th D designation, he’s more than happy to just find a home on this Bruins roster, given their hopes for at least one more run this spring.
"I mean, there's a lot of things you're looking at,” Stralman said of the appeal of Boston. “I know I'm at the tail end of my career. And as years and years go by, you're looking for an opportunity to go deep and a chance to win. I mean, it's the main reason why I chose this PTO, because I think this team has a lot of those ingredients you need need. Like I said, very happy that it worked out.”
Bergeron offers wise words to Lauko
Barring any major lineup reshuffles ahead of puck drop, the Bruins will see at least one more rookie make his NHL debut on Wednesday — with Jakub Lauko (once thought of as a long-shot to make the roster) set to skate on a fourth line next to Tomas Nosek and Nick Foligno.
“I just feel a lot of excitement and that it’s a privilege to be here,” Lauko said. “Be hard on the forecheck, be hard on pucks and try to win every battle. Just play my game and not be nervous, even though the guys said it would be hard. That’s really all I can do.”
As expected, one of the players who was in Lauko’s ear when it came to battling through those inevitable nerves was Bergeron — who, even with his lofty credentials, still feels the usual butterflies in his stomach when a new season finally gets underway.
"I think it's it remains the same game, right? He's worked so hard to get to here,” Bergeron said of his chat with Lauko. “And I think that's the message all the time. "It's still the same size rink, the lines are the same color and nothing changes. You go out there and do what he's been doing. And there's a reason why he's here — to enjoy it and it goes fast. I told him that, too. It does go fast and you kind of look back and I want to make sure guys enjoy it and soak that in. Those are important moments in a player's career."