Matt Bartkowski is the first to admit that he never expected his travel plans this fall to include stops in Belfast and Prague.
The first-year pro out of Ohio State figured he'd have to take at least a few bus trips in the AHL before getting a taste of NHL life, but the 22-year-old defenseman impressed the Bruins enough in his first camp to stick with the team for its trip to Europe.
"I'm very excited," said Bartkowski before leaving for Belfast on Wednesday. "I had no idea coming in where I'd be. I've thought I've had a pretty good showing so far and I just want to keep it going."
Bartkowski has been one of the more pleasant surprises in camp, as he leads the Bruins in preseason scoring with four assists and is a plus-3 in four games.
"I don't know, I've just been playing pretty simple and not trying to do too much," said Bartkowski. "I guess I've just been passing to the right guys. I haven't made any great passes for goals, but I guess eventually you keep making those simple plays, people will score off them. That's pretty much what I've been trying to do."
The level of competition in camp has been about what Bartkowski expected. The one thing he didn't expect was how well he'd stack up against that competition.
"The game is pretty much what I expected, speed-wise, the intelligence of the players, everything like that," said Bartkowski. "But as for where I'd be for now? I had no idea what to expect, so I'm pretty happy with where I am."
Bartkowski is one of eight defensemen still with Boston. The Bruins, who took 25 players to Belfast, still have one cut to make before the regular-season opener in Prague, and it's likely to come on the blue line, where teams seldom carry more than seven players. Bartkowski, who would not have to clear waivers to be sent to Providence, would be the obvious choice for that final cut, but he's defied the odds to this point and impressed the Bruins' staff with his play.
"I think he’s a pretty, when I say, smart individual, he’s one of those guys that I think who’s figured not just the game for the sake of the game, but what’s going on here pretty quickly," said coach Claude Julien. "He sees how we play. He sees what’s going on. I think he is sensing there’s an opportunity for him, and he’s going to make the best out of it.
"He moves the puck very well," added Julien. "We’ve talked about losing Dennis Wideman last year, one of our good puck-moving defensemen, and we’re putting the responsibility on all our D’s, for the moment, to compensate for that. … But he’s also one of those guys that has shown me, anyway, since the start of camp, that he can move the puck well. Does he have a lack of experience? Obviously, and at times it may show a little bit. But we’ve given him some preseason games [to] see how quickly he catches on, and how well he does will certainly determine whether he’s got a real legit chance to stay with us."
Even with Wideman traded to Florida in the deal for Nathan Horton, the Bruins didn't appear to have an opening on the blue line with seven regulars back in Zdeno Chara, Dennis Seidenberg, Johnny Boychuk, Andrew Ference, Mark Stuart, Matt Hunwick and Adam McQuaid. But Bartkowski has forced his way into the mix with his strong play in camp, and credited those same veterans for helping him do it.
"They've been awesome, giving me tips along the way," said Bartkowski. "They've been helping all of us young guys out. I just want to keep going, keep pushing, and even if I don't make it I can make them a little better."
Bartkowski is already the last of the young guys on the blue line still standing after narrowly getting the nod to stay up when Steve Kampfer was demoted to Providence on Wednesday in the last round of cuts.
"It was really close between those two," said general manager Peter Chiarelli. "They're both good players, really good players. [Bartkowski] has size, range a little bit, but it was really, really close. It really came down to [Bartkowski having] a little bit more size and a little more range. That's how close it is. Kampfer had an outstanding camp, and I told him that."
Bartkowski isn't exactly at eye level with Chara, but at 6-foot-1, 196 pounds, he does have an edge in size on the 5-foot-10, 188-pound Kampfer. University of Michigan product Kampfer had a strong camp himself, but like Bartkowski, he seems to have a good perspective on starting his first full pro season in the AHL.
"You want to make a push for the team, that's why you're here," said Kampfer earlier in camp. "If that's not the case, then you go down to Providence and have a heck of a year and hope you get called up during the season."
Chiarelli sees a bright future for both young blueliners. He wasn't surprised at how well either performed in camp, though he did admit he hadn't really thought they'd be this close to NHL-ready this quickly.
"These are two guys we've gone out and gotten and we've watched for a while," said Chiarelli, who acquired the rights to both players in deadline deals last March. "That they had better camps than some of our other defensemen that we sent down, I expected maybe better camps from those guys. Maybe that they challenged so soon [is a surprise]. Maybe we were looking more at Christmas, something like that. Maybe that was a little surprising."
