September arrived a little late in this corner of the internet, but the NHL calendar is finally starting to wake up with it. The month brings the familiar shift into hockey mode for a lot of people - kids heading back to school, routines changing, and the league’s quiet stretch giving way to real activity.
For the Bruins, the clock is already ticking toward Opening Night on September 29. That leaves just over three weeks before the season begins, and plenty has to happen before then.
Rookie Camp gets things moving on September 11. This year’s camp will feature the two prospect games against the Buffalo Sabres, rather than the more tournament-style Prospects Challenge used in recent years. A Rookie Camp roster should be out within a few days.
From there, regular training camp opens two weeks from yesterday, on Wednesday, September 16. The first preseason game follows quickly after that, with Boston hosting the Washington Capitals on September 20, just two weeks from Sunday.
It’s that time of year when the schedule starts piling up fast after a long summer, and soon enough everyone will be back to debating the bottom-six line combinations.
Elsewhere around the league, the streaming landscape keeps shifting. On Wednesday, the NHL announced that Prime Video will be the exclusive in-market streaming service for six teams this season: Carolina, Anaheim, Columbus, Dallas, Minnesota, and St. Louis.
Each of those clubs is taking a different approach to how games will actually be shown, and that makes the whole setup messy. Some teams will still air on cable as well, while others won’t, which only adds to the confusion.
For Bruins fans, though, the situation is still relatively stable. NESN has its issues, and the cost of following every game can still be a headache, but Boston has largely been spared the regional sports network chaos that has hit other fanbases.
Diamond Sports, FanDuel Sports Network, and others have run into major trouble in recent years, while NESN has kept moving along. There’s also growing talk around the league about more teams eventually shifting to centralized streaming models with NHL production involved, but that doesn’t seem likely to change much in Boston anytime soon. With Delaware North part-owning NESN, the local setup looks pretty firmly in place.
In Other News...
Bruins Are Trying To Protect Charlie McAvoy From One Major Drain
Charlie McAvoy has become the kind of defenseman Boston leans on in every situation, but the Bruins are trying to be a little more careful with how much they ask of him. Coach Marco Sturm and executive Don Sweeney have both signaled a plan to trim back McAvoys penalty-killing workload, a move that fits the broader push to manage his overall ice time without asking him to do less of what makes him valuable.
The urgency makes sense after McAvoy carried a heavy shorthanded burden last season while still producing career highs in assists and power-play points. Boston added Will Borgen with an eye toward spreading out the penalty-killing responsibilities, and how quickly that adjustment takes hold could matter for a blue line that wants McAvoy fresh enough to keep driving play at both ends. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Have A Camp Roster Squeeze Already Taking Shape
The Bruins are heading into training camp with the kind of roster math that can get uncomfortable fast, especially on the blue line. Boston already has nine defensemen on one-way deals, which leaves little room for anyone trying to force his way into the conversation, and that pressure is showing up before the first puck drops.
Frederic Brunet is waiver-eligible for the first time, making his spot part of the early squeeze, while prospect Dans Locmelis is back from late-season shoulder surgery and could at least make the opening competition more interesting. For a team trying to sort out depth before camp even gets rolling, those are the kinds of decisions that can shape not just the roster, but the path of a young player trying to stick. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Still Have One Big Roster Debate Before Camp
The Bruins addressed one glaring need by adding JJ Peterka, but the work around the roster is not done as camp approaches. Boston still has eyes on help for the blue line and down the middle, with the front office looking to round out a group that has already taken at least one big step toward filling its top-six wing vacancy.
The speculation now centers on a few names that would fit different parts of the puzzle, from a defenseman who could bolster the top four to centers who might strengthen the middle six. Alexander Nikishin, Kent Johnson and Shane Wright have all surfaced in the rumor mill as possible trade fits, but for now it remains just that, with no confirmed move giving the Bruins the clean answer they still seem to be chasing. [Read more 🡒]