We now know what the Boston Bruins roster will look like for opening night. What we don’t know, is what the Providence Bruins roster will look like with all the bodies the parent club has loaned to the AHL club.
I’m a firm believer of keeping the young prospects under NHL contracts in prime positions to continue their development paths. That means Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, Brett Harrison, Luke Toporowski, Trevor Kuntar and John Farinacci receiving prime time up front. But I also understanding that Providence is in the business to win hockey games and that may require adjusting the roster time. Granted, it’s not my money so, I may have a different opinion if I had a financial interest in the team.
Patrick Brown, Jesper Boqvist, Anthony Richard, Oskar Steen and Jayson Megna have all been loaned to Providence after clearing waivers. All but Steen were free agent signings by the Bruins during the offseason. AJ Greer was also placed on waivers and was claimed by the Calgary Flames today.
The picture is a little bit clearer on the blueline, but questions remain unanswered. There are only three right shot defenders in Reilly Walsh, Ryan Mast and Alec Regula. On the left side, with just an AHL contract, all signs point to Ethan Ritchie heading for Maine. That leaves Mason Lohrei, Mike Callahan, Dan Renouf, Parker Wotherspoon, Frederic Brunet and Jakub Zboril as left shots with NHL contracts, although Zboril could find himself on the right side. Nine defencemen is one too many for me. Eight would their ice time in when they play three games in three days.
About the only clarity for Providence is in the crease. Brandon Bussi is clearly the starter and one of Kyle Keyser or Michael DiPietro will get some quality time backing him up. The other will join Shane Starrett with the Maine Mariners if the ECHL.
The AHL has a veteran rule. The rule states that of the 18 skaters, 13 must be developmental players. That leaves a maximum of 6 veterans that can dress each game. To clarify: you can have more than 6 on the active roster, but only 6 can dress.
So, what constitutes a veteran player? Two criteria must be met to be deemed a veteran:
Firstly, the player must be 25 years of age at the start of the season to be deemed a veteran. The player can turn 25 during the season, but if he was 24 at the start, he is not deemed a veteran.
Secondly, and player who has played in 261 professional games (not counting playoffs) will be deemed a veteran. At least one of those 6 players must have played in fewer than 320 professional games (not counting playoffs). What constitutes a professional game? Any regular season games played in the NHL, AHL, KHL or European Elite League games such as the SHL, Czechia Extraliga, Finnish Liiga, DEL and Swiss National League. When it comes to the veteran rule, the Bruins are all set.
If I had to choose, I would do something like this (ignore the lines, they are not set):
Dom - Hockey 