The final 25
Colborne/By S. Bradley
And so the Bruins’ roster for the trip to Europe is finally coming into focus.
Today the club assigned Zach Hamill, Steve Kampfer and Joe Colborne to Providence (AHL), which cuts the number of healthy bodies left to 25. That’s just about where head coach Claude Julien said he wanted to be before tonight’s flight to Belfast.
The team now has two extra defensemen, two extra forwards and a third goaltender. It would appear that with the remaining players, Tyler Seguin will be the third center, and Matt Bartkowski and Matt Hunwick are still in a battle to be the sixth defenseman, with Adam McQuaid probably relegated to seventh status.
Tonight’s home game with Washington will be the last chance for the players to make a pitch for playing time against NHL competition before the regular season starts.
Here is the roster Boston is scheduled to dress against the Capitals:
FORWARDS: Patrice Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Jordan Caron, Nathan Horton, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Brian McGrattan, Daniel Paille, Mark Recchi, Michael Ryder, Tyler Seguin, Blake Wheeler
DEFENSEMEN: Matt Bartkowski, Johnny Boychuk, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Matt Hunwick, Dennis Seidenberg
GOALTENDERS: Nolan Schaefer, Tim Thomas
Thomas will start in net. The healthy scratches are Shawn Thornton, Brad Marchand, Mark Stuart, Tuukka Rask and McQuaid.
Tru, if you are talking about NHL lineups, then I think it would look more like this:
Lucic-Krecji- Horton
Recchi-Bergeron-Seguin/Wheeler
Caron-(Seguin/Wheeler)-Marchand/Ryder
Paille-Campell-Thorton/McGrattan
I think Seguin is on the second line if it is more important for Chia to mentor him via Recchi/Bergeron, and he is third line center otherwise. I think wheeler will take whichever role Seguin doesn’t. I have Caron on the third line because he has no business being a bottom three forward, and from what I saw looks to develop into a top six player (though I might not have the best eye.) Ryder, who has not been good based on second hand reports, should not be on the second line when there are better scoring threats available. Nor should he be on a checking or defensive line, so i I were the Bruins, he would already be on the waiver wire. Marchand supposedly had some offensive flair in the AHL which we didn’t see last season. If he doesn’t but plays well defensively and is a pest, he would be far more effective as a third line player. The other option here is Paille with Marchand on the fourth line, but I think this way is better. The fourth line to me is a good defensive line that dresses McGrattan whenever there is a team that needs to be taught a lesson, since Thorton is the better defensive player by a mile.
I pretty much agree with Tru’s assessment of the d-pairs and goalies, though I think there is a chance that ferrence and Stuart may switch.
What I would like to see, but will probably not happen….
Horton-Krejci-Seguin
Recchi-Bergeron-Lucic
Caron-Wheeler-Ryder
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Krejci setting up both Horton and Seguin would be a dream… that line would have the perfect combination of speed, smarts, and shooting.
Every B’s fan knows about the Bergeron/Recchi chemistry, and Lucic has run with them before… I think his wrecking-ball style and decent shot would work well.
I’d much rather have Wheeler on the third line than Seguin. More experience, bigger body, better defensive sense at this point.
The fourth line is practically a set-in-stone energy wing.
let’s see some predictions for next week’s lineup!
Lucic – Krejci – Horton
Recchi – Bergeron – Ryder
Paille – Seguin – Thornton
Campbell – Wheeler – Marchand/Caron/McGrattan
Chara – Boychuk
Stuart – Seidenberg
Ference – McQuaid/Bartkowski/Hunwick
Rask – Thomas
No, all of tonight’s players have a chance to stick. And I’d bet they’re all going to be on the Europe trip.
would that be the case with some of tonight’s players, too? Caron?
Yeah, those guys were called up just so they could play last night. It was preordained they were going to go back down.
just now seeing that LoVecchio, Reich, Smith were also sent down.
I thought Kampfer looked way better then Bartowski. I could barely tell you when Bartowski was playing which isnt a bad thing cause it means he wasn’t messing up. I seen him make a few good break out passes. But you could always tell Kampfer was out there cause his offensive mind got plays going and made a difference in the other teams zone and good smart defense.
McQuaid might get to play, but Bartkowski has to either play in the NHL or AHL. Being the 7th makes no sense for a first-year pro.
Reich was returned to Providence.
It looks to me like Bartkowski had a leg-up on Kampfer, especially after last Saturday’s home game.
I still would much rather see Spooner, Sauve or Colborne dressed than McGrattan and Thornton.
Reich’s status?
agreed on McQuaid and the Matts.
The only game I’ve had the chance to watch was Saturday’s game against the Panthers, but from that I really don’t understand the hype around Bartkowski. Maybe it’s just my lack of exposure, but from what I’ve seen McQuaid is who I’d rather have as my number six with the Matts battling for seventh.
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Nothing disappointing about the way Kampfer or Coburne played. They looked like NHLers.
This has to be a tough one to swallow for Hamill. He is running out of chances given the constant influx of talent. That said, he is pretty young still. He needs to really dominate this year in the AHL