After exiting with an injury on Thursday night against the Buffalo Sabres, there was still no official word on the extent of the injury to Boston Bruins center Elias Lindholm in the 4-3 overtime victory. Head coach Marco Sturm said that he expects him to be out for a couple of weeks while he went for an MRI on Friday.
It wouldn't be surprising to see him end up on injured reserve at some point, so that someone can be brought up from the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL). The P-Bruins are off to a blistering 7-0-0 start to the season, heading into two home games this weekend. If Boston GM Don Sweeney was going to dip his toes into the Providence roster, there are two clear options he has to bring up a forward.
Bruins have two AHL forwards to bring up if needed
One thing about this Bruins roster that Sturm has is that he has a handful of centers on the roster that he can insert. John Beecher, who has been scratched on most nights this year, will slot in on Saturday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes and play on the fourth line. Marat Khusnutdinov will start the game slotted as the center on the first line with David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie.
Two players from the P-Bruins who could get called up are Matthew Poitras and Fabian Lysell. Veteran Patrick Brown is off to a hot start this year, but bringing up another fourth-line forward is the last thing Boston needs to do. That's why Poitras or Lysell make the most sense.
The numbers may not show it so far, but both are off to good starts in the AHL and are deserving of a call-up. Over the last couple of weeks, when the Black and Gold began their slide that saw them lose six games in a row, there were calls for some young players to be called up, and now, with an injury that is going to cost Lindholm some time, it further calls for a young forward to come up. It couldn't hurt to bring either up and inject some youth into the lineup.