A lot of the talk surrounding the Boston Bruins ' training camp for the 2026-27 season is about the abundance of defensemen they have. There are just way too many bodies for a few positions. Charlie McAvoy is going to miss the first six games with a suspension for his slash on Zach Benson of the Buffalo Sabres at the end of Game 6 of last spring's first-round series.
However, there are going to be other position battles that are going to get interesting, including with the bottom-six forwards. How will that end up playing out? That remains to be seen, but Lukas Reichel is prepared to find a way to stick for Opening Night against the New York Rangers on Sept. 29.
“I want to work hard now and when camp starts, you’ve just got to try and do everything you can to take that spot,” Reichel said, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. “We have so many good players here so anyone can be in the lineup. It’s just about having a good camp, waking up, being on the right foot and having a good mindset. You have to take it day by day and not think about it too much really.”
Assessing Boston Bruins' bottom-six forwards
Reichel was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks at the trade deadline back in March and re-signed for one year and $950,000. However, he is going to enter camp as a number, with players fighting for a couple of spots in the lineup as a bottom-six forward.
There are some players who are facing a big camp in terms of fighting for a roster spot. Aside from Reichel, veterans Mikey Eyssimont and Alex Steeves are in the same boat as players who spent a lot of time in the pressbox last season as healthy scratches. However, the bigger names that Reichel will be battling up against are James Hagens and Matthew Poitras. The latter isn't under contract yet, so there is still the possibility that he's not signed by camp.
If he is, then things could get real interesting. Hagens feels like a different prospect compared to others in years past. He already got his feet wet in a handful of games at the end of last season, but he was scratched for the final three playoff games against the Sabres. Once seen as the top overall pick in the 2025 Entry Draft, he slid to the Black and Gold at No. 7. That feels like a win, and a lot of Boston fans will be disappointed if he isn't on the Opening Night roster.
Sturm is going to have a lot of decisions to make in a short amount of time next month, and Reichel, who has a ton of speed will be one of them. Will he make it a difficult one or an easy one? Time will tell, but he appears ready to make an impression.
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