Marco Sturm doesn’t sound like a coach trying to talk his way around a roster problem. He sounds like a guy who knows Frederic Brunet has made this decision harder than anyone in Bruins camp probably expected.
With Boston carrying too many defensemen for too few jobs, Sturm and his staff are down to the final stretch of training camp and still have two preseason games left - Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers and Friday night on the road against the Washington Capitals. Through the first two games, with lineups mixing veterans and younger players, the Bruins have given up just three goals total.
That’s a solid early sign. But Brunet has been one of the biggest reasons the conversation around the blue line keeps circling back to him.
The 23-year-old has played in both preseason games and, in Sturm’s view, hasn’t looked out of place at all.
“He had another good night. He’s been rock solid.
There are still little details in his game we have to clean up, but overall, having his first few games here this year under his belt, I think he looks very comfortable,” Sturm said, per Belle Fraser of BostonBruins.com. “That’s a good thing.
Keep working with him. He’s a good kid - wants to learn.
And for sure, he’s going to get better and better.”
That assessment matches what’s shown up on the ice. Brunet was a little slow to get rolling against Washington, but he settled in and delivered a huge late play by clearing the puck from the goal line to force overtime.
Then against the Flyers on Tuesday night, he stacked up a pair of assists in Boston’s 5-1 win. He earned a secondary assist on Mikey Eyssimont’s first-period goal, then later picked up the primary assist on Brian Halonen’s third-period rebound goal after Brunet’s shot.
For a Bruins defenseman, that kind of puck activity matters. He’s not just surviving shifts; he’s making them count.
The roster wrinkle is where things get tricky. Brunet would need waivers to go to Providence in the American Hockey League, the same as Matthew Poitras, and there’s no guarantee he’d make it through. On top of that, Charlie McAvoy is suspended for the first six games of the season because of his slash in last spring’s playoffs.
That leaves Boston with a real choice, and the source of the pressure is obvious. Sending Brunet through waivers to keep someone like Jonathan Aspirot or Jordan Harris would be a risky move.
Based on what he’s shown in camp, Brunet looks NHL-ready. At the very least, he has done enough to make himself the clear extra defenseman to start the season - and maybe much longer than that.
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