On the heels of announcing the franchise had decided to loan Matthew Poitras to Team Canada for the World Juniors, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney offered an evaluation of the rookie’s performance so far this season.
“The league does get harder, and he’s going through that for the first six months,” Sweeney told reporters, per team-provided transcripts. “As much as you want to talk to a player about that, you’ve got to go through it, live it, and know you’re going on the road. You know, the matchups you lose, playing against guys for the very first time and realizing that the teams are pretty stout and going to close you off.”
Sweeney added: “So it’s just a steep learning curve, and he’s handled it really well. I mean, he comes back and in some of the games where he’s made a couple of booboos, and hasn’t lost his confidence, will go out and play the next play…doesn’t play in Long Island, watches… actually mentioned to me that sometimes it is really beneficial to watch how hard this league is, how big some of the (defensemen) are and when they’re going to close you off, and then he’ll make a really good play that helps set up a goal against the Rangers. I love that about him. He’s going through it for the first time, but he’s learning from each one of those experiences, tried to apply it, and hopefully, he’s a lot better off coming out the other side.”
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The Bruins have been careful with Poitras’s workload to ensure the 19-year-old doesn’t get burnt out at the beginning of a very long, grueling NHL season.
“Over the course of time, anybody’s going to wear down throughout the season,” Sweeney explained. “So, there are certain opportunities and situations … Are you winning your puck battles? Are you able to close defensively? Are you still able to generate and separate? Are you getting closed off?
“So, just little things that certainly show up, and everybody has off nights per se, but if it’s attributed to fatigue we monitor these guys every day in practice in terms of where they are and where their recovery is at. We have little things that will tip us off what direction our players are headed in.”
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Even as well as Poitras’s been playing this season, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery has sat him at crucial times in Boston’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, which Poitras has come to understand as building trust with his coaches, and Sweeney wholeheartedly agrees with his coach.
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“There’s a lot of guys that go through the league and get their ice time shortened,” Sweeney said. “You play long enough, you’re going through that. Puck management, an extended shift in one case, it’s just a real good learning opportunity.
“And that’s exactly how it was attributed, right back in the next night, and back in the situation rebounding to play in 14 minutes and contribute, not to strip away his confidence. Making sure that communication is really positive in that sense. But you’ve got to go through some growing pains at times that every player goes through.”
Poitras is on loan to Team Canada for the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden from Dec. 26 to Jan. 5 and will return to the Bruins once the competition is complete.
Featured image via Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports Images
