Boston Bruins: Top 3 players to keep an eye on in 2021
By Matt Hawkins
Here are three players on the Boston Bruins you should keep an eye on during the 2021 season.
The Boston Bruins‘ window to win the Stanley Cup with their current core of players is closing. Defensemen Torey Krug and former captain Zdeno Chara both left in free agency and forwards such as new captain Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Brad Marchand are all getting close to retirement.
However, Bruins’ fans shouldn’t worry too much as the organization has a bunch of talented young players rising through the ranks, with some possibly playing in the NHL as early as this season.
With this wave of youth hitting the Black and Gold soon, I don’t think Boston’s window will be closed for long.
Here are three of these such players that you should keep an eye on in 2021.
3. Boston Bruins’ fans should keep an eye on forward Trent Frederic in 2021.
As the 29th overall pick in 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Trent Frederic made his NHL debut two seasons ago in 2018-19 suiting up for 15 games. Last season, Frederic played in just two NHL games.
Through these 17 NHL games, Frederic didn’t register a point, had a -5 plus/minus (+/-), and -0.4 point shares. So you could say that Frederic has struggled in the NHL so far.
However, this season that could change. Frederic is just 22 years old and still developing. So far in training camp he has been practicing with bottom-six forwards. If he can carve out a role in the bottom-six, this may lead to a much needed confidence boost and momentum.
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But with Frederic being a natural center this will be extremely difficult with the center depth the team has. Right now, Frederic has been practicing and playing on the left wing in scrimmages. So until Bergeron and Krejci retire or leave the team, Frederic’s position in the NHL seems to be left wing.
But just like at center, the B’s are deep at left wing. Frederic will really have to prove he deservers to be in the NHL in 2021 to earn a spot at left wing in the bottom-six, beating out the likes of Anders Bjork, Nick Ritchie, Greg McKegg, Anton Blidh, and Par Lindholm.