Bruins place three players on waivers as final cuts loom

As final cuts approach, the Bruins place three players on waivers.

Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena was one of the last opportunities for the Bruins to observe the players still in camp before rosters are required on Monday afternoon.
Sunday was an off day, so this was one of the last opportunities.

After six preseason games are completed, the Bruins may have seen enough to have a general idea of who will be on their Opening Night roster.
However, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery emphasized on both Thursday and Friday that training camp was not yet over and that the team was eager to see how some players looked once the team was reduced to a single large group and held a scrimmage on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, however, Don Sweeney and company also engaged in some additional waiver activity.
following their absences from the spirited session in Brighton, three players were claimed off waivers.

“It doesn’t matter what your business is about or what the situation requires; it’s difficult to deliver news that you know they’re hoping to hear. And today is a challenging day,” Montgomery said after the meeting on Saturday.
It simply is.
Everyone is aware and agrees that at some point, you have to get down to a number.
Because of this, practice [today] wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed, but human nature is what it is.
“.

The biggest waiver wire development for the Bruins is the Bruins’ 2015 first-round draft pick and defenseman Jakub Zboril being placed on waivers.

The No. Zboril, the No. 13 overall pick in 2015, has played 76 NHL games with the Bruins in four seasons.
He is coming off a 2022–23 campaign in which he registered one goal, four points, and 31 hits in 22 games.
In Montgomery’s loaded B’s team’s 2022–23 season, Zboril also experienced extremely long stretches of being a scratch, with Zboril only participating in three games from U.
S.
To Mar, Happy Thanksgiving. 19 during the previous season.

In training camp, he was working hard to hold onto his position as the No. 7 defenseman, Zboril, 26, missed just two games this preseason due to an injury.
In over 34 minutes of action during that time, he recorded one assist, two blocked shots, and six hits.

The strong competition from 2023 offseason addition Ian Mitchell and Zboril’s own cap hit of $1.137 million for 2023–2024 almost certainly hindered his chances of landing a job in camp.
Mitchell makes the league minimum, in case you were wondering.
).

There are now only eight defensemen left on the Bruins’ training camp roster after Zboril was placed on waivers.

Mitchell, Mason Lohrei, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brandon Carlo, Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort, Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie McAvoy are among the individuals in that group.

Oskar Steen was put on waivers by the Bruins for the second consecutive training camp up front.

Like last season, Steen had a strong start and scored in his preseason debut, but he was unable to build on that success and appeared to lose steam as camp went on. Overall, the 5-foot-10 Steen had one goal on nine shots in his final two preseason games.

Steen, a 2016 sixth-round pick of the Bruins, scored one goal in three NHL games while playing for Boston in 2017.
Since 2021, he has accrued three goals and seven points in 26 NHL games.

Steen also had 14 goals and 31 points in 64 games with the P-Bruins the previous season.
He has a total of 41 goals and 100 points in 196 AHL games over the course of his career.

The Bruins also put forward Jesper Boqvist, a versatile player, on waivers in addition to Steen and Zboril.

After a training camp and preseason that included eight shots, one takeaway, four hits, and three victories in five . battles over three games, Boqvist, who was signed to a league-minimum contract back in July, is placed on waivers.
Boqvist, who had a productive season with the Devils last year, recording 10 goals and 21 points in 70 games, impressed the Bruins with his versatility.
However, you could make the case that he almost got hurt because everyone was trying to read each other’s body language.

Montgomery acknowledged, “Anyone who comes in new always has it hard.”.
“You’re trying to adjust, trying to understand how we want to play.
And almost every player wants to comply with your request.
In an effort to adapt, they are doing so.
They are attempting to find their way around a new city, get used to a large number of new teammates, find their comfort zone everywhere off the ice, and then find it on the ice.
And there isn’t much time left in September before we get going in earnest.
“.

A second-round selection in 2017, Boqvist has accumulated 28 goals and 55 points in 189 NHL games over four seasons.

The Boston Bruins currently have 15 forwards in their NHL camp, and the magic number seems to be 13 based on their current cap situation.
Boqvist and Steen are the most recent cuts from Boston’s NHL camp.

Currently, A is among those 15 individuals.
J. Greer, Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle, Milan Lucic, Pavel Zacha, Johnny Beecher, James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Brown, Morgan Geekie, Danton Heinen (on a professional tryout), Matt Poitras, Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak, and Jakub Lauko.

The Bruins will have Sunday off before Monday’s Media Day and practice at TD Garden, with rosters needing to be finalized by 5 p.m. m.
at the time.