WILMINGTON, Mass. — Ryan Spooner has been a pass-first player for most of his hockey career, but he wants to make a stronger impact on the Boston Bruins offense by scoring more goals this season.
Spooner played in 23 games for Boston in 2013-14 and tallied 11 points, but he didn’t score any goals and took just 42 shots.
The 22-year-old center, who was selected by the Bruins with the 45th overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, worked on his shot this summer in an effort to find the net more often during the upcoming campaign.
“I didn’t have any goals, which was a big issue for me,” Spooner said Friday after the team’s informal practice at Ristuccia Arena. “I worked on my shot in the summertime. I’m trying to score. I think sometimes I looked to pass too much, so I got to shoot more.”
“Me being a centerman, I think it’s more so I prefer to pass. Obviously, I like to score, but at the same time I like setting guys up and that’s what I’ve been good at. I’m going to stick to that. I guess the only thing I could kind of change is if I get into a scoring position instead of trying to pass just try to get the shot off.”
Spooner has the offensive talents needed to thrive at center, but his faceoff ability was an area of concern last season. He won just 40.7 percent of his draws, the lowest mark of any B’s center who took 100 or more faceoffs. He added some weight in the offseason and is up to 182 pounds, and the added strength should help him in the dot.
“Faceoffs were a big issue for me. I was at like 40 percent, which isn’t very good,” Spooner said. “I got to be better at that, too. If you can’t be in the faceoff circle, it’s going to be tough to (play center).”
As one of the team’s top prospects, Spooner is expected to make the Bruins’ roster out of training camp. Not only is he a talented playmaker with his impressive passing skills, high hockey IQ and offensive awareness, the Ottawa native also adds much-needed speed to the lineup. The B’s lacked speed/quickness in their bottom-six forward group last season, and Spooner could provide that skill set if he wins a roster spot.
“It’s my fifth camp, my first four there might have been one spot open,” Spooner said. “To come back here and have a couple spots open is good.”
Winning a spot at center probably will be difficult, though, as the B’s are pretty set down the middle with David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Carl Soderberg, Chris Kelly and Gregory Campbell as the first five players on the depth chart for four center spots. There are two right wing spots open following the offseason departures of Jarome Iginla and Shawn Thornton, both of which are expected to be on the third and fourth lines. Spooner doesn’t mind playing in one of those spots despite being a natural center.
“I’ve played wing before, I think I’m smart enough to transition over to that spot. It might free me up a little bit from the defensive things you have to do as a centerman. I haven’t played there in the past two seasons, but if they wanted to play me on the wing I’d be more than happy.”
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