Let’s catch you up on the flurry of news and notes surrounding the Boston Bruins on Wednesday morning.
Jack Studnicka got sent back down to Providence, Trent Frederic is out Thursday after leaving Tuesday’s game, Nick Foligno will be back in the lineup and Anton Blidh could be ready to return, as well.
Got all of that?
The Bruins are set to face Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday at TD Garden. Lately, Boston has been leaning heavily on its top line, so the slew of changes can also represent the opportunity for the Bruins to mix things up.
The most simple 1-for-1 swap is Blidh for Frederic.
“(Blidh is) a guy that plays left wing,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said after Wednesday’s practice. “And the guy he would slot in best for is Frederic, so if he’s healthy, I could see him going in there.”
Cassidy indicated that the Bruins would prefer to use the players already up in Boston before dipping down to Providence. Should Blidh not be ready, that most likely would result in Karson Kuhlman replacing Frederic. Such a situation would probably bump Tomas Nosek to left wing, with Curtis Lazar centering and Kuhlman on the right wing.
Foligno only has appeared in two games this season, and that was with Erik Haula and Jake DeBrusk, a combination the Bruins had spoken for months about using. While one would assume that’s where Foligno would draw back in, especially with Studnicka going down, it sounds like Cassidy is amenable to putting Foligno on the second unit.
“We’re going to talk about that,” Cassidy said. “Is he a better fit with (Charlie) Coyle and (Taylor) Hall as a net presence? Because that line is a little stagnant right now, they’re not getting the chances they maybe got earlier. It allows (Craig Smith) to play with some different linemates. So, it’s going to be one or the other, it’s either with Haula and DeBrusk or the other two. Sort through that in the morning, talk to the people on those lines, see what they think.”
Put all those things together, and the Bruins’ forward group is shaping up to look like this against the Oilers:
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall–Charlie Coyle–Nick Foligno
Jake DeBrusk–Erik Haula–Craig Smith
Anton Blidh–Tomas Nosek–Curtis Lazar
A lot can change over the course of a day though, so the picture should become a bit clearer in Thursday’s morning skate.
