Frederic Brunet’s path to the Bruins’ roster got a little clearer, and a little more interesting, after Boston’s first preseason game.
The night didn’t start perfectly for Brunet against the Washington Capitals, but he found his footing as the game wore on. Once he settled in, he showed calm in his own zone and flashes of the puck-moving game that has him in this mix in the first place. It wasn’t the kind of debut he was chasing, but the Bruins are still giving him a real shot to make his case.
That opportunity is carrying over into the second preseason game, where Marco Sturm and the front office are putting Brunet in a spot that says plenty about how they view him. They could have used camp to keep him glued to Charlie McAvoy, then tried to slip him through waivers and start the season elsewhere. Instead, they’re asking him to prove he can stand on his own.
Brunet has been attached at the hip to McAvoy since camp opened, and the veteran has taken the young defenseman under his wing. The relationship may be helping both sides.
McAvoy recently compared Brunet to former partner Matt Gryzelcyk, and Bruins fans know what that kind of fit can look like. Some of McAvoy’s best seasons came with Gryzelcyk on his left side.
That’s why this is more than just another preseason look. The Bruins’ top defenseman still has an open competition for a partner, and if nobody else in camp pushes ahead, Brunet has a real inside track.
There’s also the practical side of all this. If Brunet is going to matter early in the season, it won’t be with McAvoy beside him. McAvoy’s six-game suspension will keep him out for the first two weeks, so Boston won’t be parking the 22-year-old in the press box next to him and waiting around.
If the Bruins want Brunet to start building chemistry with someone who could actually be in the lineup with him, Tuesday’s game gives him four choices from the lineup around him. And if he can show he can do it without one of the league’s best defensemen covering for him, that only helps his case against the Philadelphia Flyers.
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Bruins Have One Urgent Pastrnak Problem To Solve
David Pastrnak has kept the Bruins offense afloat through all the changes around him, even as the forward group has been shuffled and his role has subtly evolved. He is still driving scoring chances at a high level, but the way he is doing it has shifted, with more of the burden falling on his playmaking and his ability to create for teammates off the rush and at even strength.
Marco Sturm has made clear he values the full scope of Pastrnaks impact, not just the finish at the end of a sequence. For Boston, the issue is not whether Pastrnak remains central to the attack, but how the Bruins balance his dual identity as scorer and setup man while trying to squeeze every bit of offense out of a lineup that leans on him so heavily. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins May Regret Waiting On Marat Khusnutdinov
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Khusnutdinovs case is made more interesting by the company he is keeping in camp, as the Bruins are evaluating him alongside Minten and James Hagens. If his play rises to the level Boston wants, the club could circle back on an extension later in the season, which makes the coming weeks a meaningful audition even without a contract in place. [Read more 🡒]
Bruins Were At The Center Of A Flyers Injury Scare
A preseason game between the Flyers and Bruins turned tense when Philadelphia goaltender Dan Vladar exited with an upper-body injury after a collision with Boston forward Tanner Jeannot. Vladar, who recently signed a five-year contract extension and helped the Flyers reach the playoffs last season, had been trying to settle things down in his own end when the sequence unfolded, turning an otherwise routine early-fall tune-up into a concern for Philadelphia.
The immediate worry for the Flyers is the health of a goalie they intend to lean on, especially with a strong year behind him and a new long-term deal in place. Aleksei Kolosov stepped in after Vladar left, but the larger question now is how serious the injury is and what it could mean for a team that has already invested in Vladar as part of its future. [Read more 🡒]