The Boston Bruins make first cuts to their roster

Jun 14, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien during practice the day before game two of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

At the moment, the Bruins have decided not to cut anyone from their pro camp roster. They want to split the exaggerated squad up and take half to tomorrow night’s game in Montreal, and the other half on Tuesday night to take on the Washington Capitals. The Bruins did decide to cut six members from the rookie camp who were playing with the Bruins.

The rookie camp attendees that were cut go as follows:

Forwards- Jayden Hart, Wayne Simpson, Maxime Villemaire
Defensemen- Mickael Beauregard, Alex Cord, Jesse Lees

There was a seventh cut to the roster, but it involved Mitchell Dempsey.  Dempsey was a seventh round draft pick (by Boston) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He has gone back to his junior team in the OHL.

With so many young players being added to the mix of pro camp, it can’t be easy determining who will stay with the squad, and who will be released from their ATO/PTO offers. Bruins head coach Claude Julien does the best he can to make the smart choices for the team though.

“For me, I’ll be honest with you, when you’re dealing with almost four hours of ice and two sessions and you’re trying to give the guys an idea of what you’re trying to accomplish, and adjustments, sometimes, you know, you’ll see players but I’m not able to see everyone as closely as I will in a game situation,” said Julien to Boston Bruins.com. “But I can’t say I’m necessarily disappointed in any of those guys.  [Alexander Khokhlachev] is, for example, is a guy that, he’s hard to stop, he works hard, and everybody knows this kid, he may not be A-plus but he makes up for it with his work ethic and his skill level. The [Jared Knight]s are guys that can shoot the puck, and if he uses speed down the wall and then takes pucks at the net, those things we’ll see pretty quickly how well they fare against players in the NHL.”

There are still thirteen members of the rookie camp in the mix. Anthony Camara, Jared Knight, and Ryan Spooner are still in the running for a possible spot on the Bruins third(or fourth) line. For now, it looks like there will be no further cuts until after tomorrow night’s game in Montreal, and Tuesday’s game against the Washington Capitals.