For the last two years, the fourth line left wing role effectively has been Joakim Nordstrom’s.
Nordstrom is now a member of the Calgary Flames though, and so opens a coveted spot up front for the Bruins.
Trent Frederic, anyone?
Frederic finally showed the offense to match his bruising style of play last season in the AHL. Pivoting on the P-Bruins, the 2016 first-round pick scored eight goals with 24 assists, all while logging a whopping 148 penalty minutes.
Now in the final year of his entry-level deal, this is as good of a time as any to stake claim to a spot. He’s received that opportunity early in training camp, skating to the left of Sean Kuraly and opposite Chris Wagner.
“There’s a lot of competition up and down that left side, as well. But we’re gonna give Freddy a look if he creates an opportunity for himself,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday over Zoom. “He looks better, more comfortable than he has here in the past. Some of that is hanging onto the puck, and some of that is probably being a pro for two years and being up here a little bit, joining us in the playoffs.
“And he’s shooting the puck a ton right now. His shot has obviously improved over the summer and over the last year that we didn’t see as much — or he’s just creating more space to get it off, and he’s going to have to do that in games.”
He hasn’t been alone in that role, however. Anders Bjork has skated in that spot at times, and presumably Nick Ritchie will be in the mix for that role once David Pastrnak returns. In short, there are a number of different candidates, and whoever Cassidy goes with on a given night could go a long way in determining that trio’s identity.
It’s worth noting that Cassidy seemed amenable to entertaining the idea of putting Kuraly on the left wing so Frederic could center the group.
But if Frederic shows out in camp this season, it’ll be hard for the Bruins to not at least look and see what they have in the 22-year-old.
