It'll be tough for Alex Steeves to make the opening night lineup, which isn't an indictment of how he has been playing in the preseason. The numbers game is simply going to catch up to Steeves, and last year's second-leading scorer in the AHL will head down to Providence to await his turn in the lineup. Unfortunately, the Boston Bruins' front office signed so many depth players because Steeves is the type of player they should've taken a chance on.
The Bruins entered Monday night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers with Steeves on the fourth line. It was good to give him another opportunity to get into the lineup, but placing him on a line with Sean Kuraly and Tanner Jeannot wasn't exactly setting him up for success. If Steeves is going to be successful, he must use his offensive talents to shine, and Kuraly and Jeannot don't offer much support.
However, what we saw from Steeves on Monday night was very intriguing. While the goal that his line scored in the game was when David Pastrnak came out of the penalty box and Steeves hadn't replaced him yet, Steeves' aggressive forechecking and skill in the offensive zone made Jeannot and Kuraly look good all game. Some of the plays died on their sticks, but the fourth line had a good game overall.
There are some things to consider. The question heading into the season was whether Steeves is a AAAA player, meaning he is phenomenal against AHL talent but struggles to carry that performance over to the NHL. Monday night's performance doesn't really disprove that theory, as the Flyers had a lineup with a lot of players that Steeves will be seeing in Leigh Valley this season. Nevertheless, Steeves did impress.
The problem for Steeves is that some of the other bottom-six candidates have also been having good camps. Mikey Eyssimont is one of the players Steeves would've had to surpass, but he had an even more impressive game last week. This is one of the issues with the number of bottom-six players the Bruins brought in, as Steeves has outplayed Kuraly and Jeannot in camp, but neither of those players is being removed from the lineup. The numbers game is simply Steeves' biggest rival.
So, what can Steeves bring? He'll be one of Providence's leading players, and is a break glass in case of emergency option for the Bruins when their offense inevitably falters during the regular season. While he will likely be getting his demotion soon, this isn't the last we'll see of him in Boston.