The clock is ticking on Matthew Poitras, and the Bruins have a decision to make before training camp opens in the middle of September.
Poitras, the second-round pick in the 2022 Entry Draft, is still unsigned as a restricted free agent and is not arbitration-eligible yet. That leaves Boston in a familiar spot with a young player whose future still needs to be sorted out, even though July is nearly over and the situation has stayed very quiet.
The reported offer on the table is a one-year, two-way contract worth $840,000. But on the Pucks with Haggs podcast, Joe Haggerty and Mick Colageo suggested Poitras may be aiming higher.
“I won’t be surprised if this turns out to be a one-year, one-way [deal] at a modest number in which Poitras, as Elliotte (Friedman) would say on 32 Thoughts, bets on himself,” Colageo said.
That leaves the Bruins with two clear paths: sign him or trade him. A trade would be a difficult move, but if it could bring back something that helps right away and fills a need, it’s at least a route Boston should weigh.
Poitras has already shown enough to make the case that he belongs in the NHL. The problem is that the Bruins have made that path hard to clear.
Veteran depth additions have crowded the roster, and that has left Poitras without a real opening in Boston. He had a job out of training camp in 2023, but surgery in February in 2024 ended his season.
Since then, he has been stuck with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League.
He may be willing to bet on himself, and maybe that gamble pays off. But the Bruins have not always been a team that hands prospects a long runway, and they have moved on from young players before. Fabian Lysell was recently traded to the Colorado Avalanche, and Boston cannot afford to let the same thing happen with Poitras.
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Bruins Keep Running Into The Same Prospect Problem Again
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Part of the concern is structural, with changes around the Providence Bruins adding another layer to an already familiar problem. When prospects are moving through the system, changing representation, or even hesitating to commit to the AHL path, it becomes harder for the Bruins to sell a clear development plan, and that is where the long-term stakes sit for a team that has too often leaned toward immediate wins over patiently building its next wave. [Read more 🡒]