Boston Bruins: What does this Alex Petrovic experiment mean?

The Boston Bruins have confirmed recent rumors of signing a defenseman to the professional tryout. Will Alex Petrovic have a shot at making the roster in late September?

The Boston Bruins have signed defenseman Alex Petrovic to a professional tryout agreement on Sunday, as officially reported by the CapFriendly. What does it mean bringing Alex Petrovic to training camp in September? His signing makes a ton of sense.

Firstly, Boston Bruins fans will probably freak out about Petrovic or any other defenseman coming on a PTO, thinking that it means that either Charlie McAvoy or Brandon Carlo are gone or not signed until December. Secondly, other Bruins fans might speculate about Torey Krug being shipped out. Lastly, no, this doesn’t affect David Backes at all.

Alex Petrovic has been drafted as the 36th overall player in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers. Since then, he has played 263 regular-season games, just nine of those not in the Panthers uniform. He is a very mobile right-handed defenseman, putting up a career 5 NHL goals and 45 assists for 50 points so far.

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Last season, the Panthers got rid of him in a trade to Edmonton, where he suited up for only nine games. That was, no doubt, a huge disappointment for an Edmonton native.

Now, the 27-year-old defenseman will try to bounce back. In Boston. In September. Does he have any real chance at making the Boston Bruins opening night roster? Well, both McAvoy and Carlo might not be ready for training camp next month. Both might be unavailable for opening night, which will take place on October 3 in Dallas.

With this, the largely worst-scale scenario for Boston, they would be left with Steven Kampfer, Connor Clifton and Kevan Miller as their right-handed defensemen. Starting the season on a four-game road trip with only three right-handed blue-liners might not pay dividends.

Besides, Miller still hasn’t resumed skating following his knee problems and will possibly miss the opening stage of the NHL campaign. With these implications, the Boston Bruins would need healthy and, more importantly, right-handed defensemen signed to valid NHL contracts.

John Moore’s absence is almost certain, too. The Bruins may not even find help from their Ameircan Hockey League affiliate, the Providence Bruins; where not many guys like to play on the right side of the defense.

The Boston Bruins would then need a little bit of help from the outside. Alex Petrovic makes perfect sense in all this chaos for Boston. In this scenario aforementioned, even if one of McAvoy or Carlo signed to be ready for the season, Petrovic would still potentially be needed. Signing a player on a professional tryout means practically nothing unless he is signed to a real contract following it.

Even if Alex Petrovic signs in late September, it can be a two-way contract. If it’s a salary based on a league-minimum, even if that’s a one-way deal, the Bruins can easily bury such a deal in Providence and have no salary cap casualties. From this standpoint bringing Alex Petrovic makes sense and would mean almost zero risk for the Boston Bruins.

Still, the best possible scenario for the Bruins is to commence the NHL season with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo healthy and ready. But if not, the Boston Bruins are already readying for all possibilities.