The Bruins made their final cuts for the opening night roster on Sunday, getting down to the 23-man limit. There were some mild surprises and one feel-good story.
Goalie Michael DiPietro, wings Alex Steeves and Matej Blumel and defenseman Jonathan Aspirot were placed on waivers for the purpose of being assigned to Providence while center Matt Poitras, who does not yet require waivers, was sent directly to Providence. Bubble players John Beecher, Marat Khusnutdinov and Jeffrey Viel all made the cut.
Let’s look at the cuts and survivors one-by-one:
*DiPietro will be the one to movie tomorrow to see if anyone places a claim on him. A couple of teams have already picked up goalies this preseason, Connor Ingram going to Edmonton and Pheonix Copley to Tampa Bay. Old friend Brandon Bussi was claimed off waivers by Carolina from Florida on Sunday. There were two other goalies of note placed on waivers, Nico Daws by New Jersey and Clay Stevenson by Washington. The 26-year-old DiPietro was taken 64th overall by Vancouver in 2017. After an excellent season in Providence last year, he had a bad first preseason game and then rebounded well in his second chance. It would be nice if the B’s could hang on to the goaltending depth, especially with such a demanding, condensed schedule, but that’s far from a given.
*The cut of 25-year-old Blumel was a mild surprise, simply because he regularly practiced on the second power-play unit. Billed as a late-blooming scorer – he scored 70 goals over the last two seasons for the Texas Stars, but there was not a much wow factor with him in the preseason. If he survives waivers then it’s not out of the question that he’d get another look, especially if the B’s struggle mightily scoring goals.
*Like Blumel, the 25-year-old Steeves came with a good AHL scoring resume – 63 goals the last two seasons for the Toronto Marlies – and he brought a little more physicality to the table. The hope was that both Blumel and Steeves were victims of being in organizations with deep NHL rosters, but neither did quite enough to make it.
*Aspirot getting waived was a bit of a surprise, especially after Marco Sturm spoke highly of him on Saturday. In the last road preseason game, he played with edge and poise. He buried Ryan Leonard when the Capital poked Joonas Korpisalo and he skated the puck out of danger a couple of times. At 26, he has not NHL experience so he might get through waivers. Jordan Harris is the only extra defenseman right today.
*Poitras had earned a roster spot out of camp the last two years, but it had been viral that he would be sent down to Providence early in camp. He struggled in the defensive zone in his first two games and did not come close to offsetting that with his play in the offensive zone. He showed signs of feeling more comfortable in his last preseason game but it wasn’t enough to keep him in Boston. He’ll be better off going to Providence and playing center in an elevated role than being a spare part in Boston.
*After Beecher’s up-and-down camp, a cynic might say that his first-round pedigree saved his roster spot. But there are other facets to his game that kept him around. He’s a good faceoff man and Sturm’s concern about the penalty kill should not be underestimated. He would have had to go through waivers, so management decided to keep him around.
*Marat Khusnutdinov was probably safe from the get-go. They traded for him at the deadline and then re-signed him to a two-year offer in the offseason. He didn’t pop in training camp but he didn’t completely flame out. He didn’t look out of place on the PK, either.
*From the you-love-to-see-it department, the 28-year-old Viel made the team the old fashioned way – he earned it. He showed up ready to compete in camp and he did just that, despite it looking like an impossibly steep hill to climb after the B’s signed experienced bottom-six players Sean Kuraly, Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont. Viel, who has 54 games of NHL experience, not only brought the physicality and energy required of him, he potted a pretty game-winning goal last week in Philadelphia. Where he fits on this roster on a night-in-night-out basis remains to be seen. But what management can and should do is hold Viel up to the younger players in the organization and say ‘This is how you make it to the NHL.’
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