Bruins Prospect To Determine Own Role With Club In 2024-25

The Bruins have been playing catch-up for over a year now.

Boston has watched a number of top-six forwards depart over the last couple offseasons, with Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci hanging up their skates following a brutal postseason exit two seasons ago, and Jake DeBrusk choosing to sign with the Vancouver Canucks this past offseason.

Bergeron and Krejci are nearly unreplaceable, but Bruins general manager Don Sweeney seems to have found a number of solid options in Pavel Zacha, Charlie Coyle and newcomer Elias Lindholm. Boston is set up to have much more depth and lineup versatility this season than it had in the first year post-Bergy and Krech.

Can he find that top-six winger to replace DeBrusk, though? Is one already in the building?

"I think Fabian (Lysell) will determine that," Sweeney said Wednesday, as seen on NESN. "His one-on-one ability, his offensive attributes are pretty darn good. He's been productive. (Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel) would say, rounding out your game and being a reliable player and building a team game are all components of winning -- and that's what our club requires to play. He's gotta buy into that, but he's also matured.

"You've got to hope that he can go in and complement in any one of the roles you can describe. I don't think he's a fourth line, energy, penalty-killing guy at this point in his career, so that might be ill-fitting, but the rest of the opportunities are right in front of him."

Lysell, 21, is someone who hasn't quite taken the leap expected of him, but that hasn't tempered too many expectations.

"Fabian had huge steps this year," Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel said in July. "We forget how young Fabian is at times. We had him as a 19-year-old. The maturity that he's shown in his game has been great to see. Things that he does really well ... he has a creative mind, he plays the game at a fast pace, his speed creates a ton of anxiety. Those are things he has to bring to the table for (Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery)."

The Bruins have other options in the building to play alongside Lindholm, Zacha, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, as well.

Morgan Geekie looks like the easy choice to take on second-line right wing minutes. Tyler Johnson is another option, coming in on a professional tryout to perhaps follow the same path Danton Heinen did in 2023-24, but if Lysell can push them it would bode well for the overall depth of the club.