The Boston Bruins training camp is underway, and the roster ended up being somewhat underwhelming.
There weren’t any really surprising late invites to camp, nor any other real surprises in general. Adam McQuaid being at the recent captain’s practice appears not to have been the precursor to inking a PTO with the Boston Bruins.
Likewise, there hasn’t been any early entry-level deal extended to this year’s first round pick, John Beecher. As such, much like so many of the recent crop of Boston Bruins prospects, he’s off to get settled in at college and won’t be about for us to evaluate against NHL-quality players.
Training camp offers an opportunity to see some of the prospect depth, see some of the main roster depth and a chance to evaluate the new summer’s new signings.
For fans of the Boston Bruins, that means a first look at guys like Brett Ritchie, Par Lindholm and Pavel Shen. It also presents a chance to see if Alex Petrovic is worth offering a full-time deal to and whether some of the AHL-only deals will find themselves converted into NHL deals in due time.
Players can surprise at training camp and truly shine, leading to strong regular season performances. Equally, they can give illusions of being better than they actually are in pre-season games and flop when they hit the grind of the NHL season.
For the Boston Bruins coaching staff, this is the best chance to evaluate their guys and determine whether any are master illusionists. We think a few guys though, regardless, are going to surprise us all.