Did the Bruins give a hint as to what the roster will look like to open the season at practice Sunday?
The Boston Bruins hit the ice Sunday morning at Warrior Ice Arena and the Black and Gold may have given fans an idea of what the roster will look like on Thursday night at New Jersey on Opening Night.
#NHLBruins practice lines:
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 10, 2021
Marchand – Bergeron – Studnicka
DeBrusk/Lindholm – Krejci – Kase
Ritchie – Coyle – Smith
Bjork/Frederic – Kuraly – Wagner
Lauzon – McAvoy
Grzelcyk – Carlo
Zboril – Miller
Moore – Clifton
Rask
Halak pic.twitter.com/tx600S3Yuv
If this in fact what the roster will look like against the Devils, there are not really many surprises. With David Pastrnak out to begin the season as he continues to recover from hip surgery in September, coach Bruce Cassidy has options on the right wing to fill that spot, which appears is going to be Jack Studnicka.
Ondrej Kase and Craig Smith are two options, but Cassidy has made it clear in the first week of training camp that he prefers to keep his second and third lines together to gain chemistry and has yet to break them up.
As of now, it appears that the second line of Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, and Kase will begin the season together. This should be music to Krejci’s ears if DeBrusk can take the next step and be a consistent goal-scorer, while Kase should supply Krejci with the right wing stability with scoring potential.
The third line of Nick Ritchie, Charlie Coyle, and Craig Smith has it all. Ritchie brings toughness and the Bruins hope that Smith goes a long way in helping to solve secondary scoring woes with the middle-six. Coyle does it all for the Bruins whether it’s 5-on-5, the power play, and penalty killing.
The fourth line that has been working together in camp has Trent Frederic, Sean Kuraly, and Chris Wagner. Anders Bjork and Par Lindholm were skating with the first group Sunday.
On defense, there are no real surprises in the top four, while Kevan Miller on pace to be getting the third right-handed slot ahead of Connor Clifton could be a little surprising. In net, there are no surprises with Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak ready for one more run together between the pipes.
Following practice, Cassidy said that “We wanted to get down to more of what our group would look like.” That sure sounds like the Bruins know who will take the ice at the Prudential Center against the Devils.
Nothing is official and things can change with injuries and illnesses, but this could be what we are seeing the Bruins roll out on Opening Night against the Devils for a roster. Game on!