Mailbag: Importance of training camp

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Thanks for the question!

Never say never, but it really seems unlikely that the Bruins trade either of Pavel Zacha, or Casey Mittelstadt prior to the start of the season (bookmark this for when i'm wrong).

Fraser Minten, in my opinion, has the inside track at winning Boston's third line center role.

He's young (21), has good size (6'2", 195lbs), plays a mature game and projects to be a responsible two way center. His offensive ceiling may not be through the roof - but if he can develop into a 40-50 point player capable of matching up well defensively against other teams' top six forwards then the Bruins will have themselves a solid 3rd line pivot for now and for years to come.

Now is it possible that Minten can one day grow into being a top-six forward?

Sure.

But he'll have to prove that he has more offensive upside than what has been advertised of him.

Matt Poitras is a different type of player and right now has a higher offensive ceiling than Minten, so he could be destined for a top-six role over the next year.

That said, Poitras has some work to do if he wants to earn and be trusted with Boston's 2nd line center (or right wing) position.

To be honest, i'm not even sold that he makes the team out of camp - though even in that scenario, I'd envision him being called up sooner than later.

With Boston's projected top-six being Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, David Pastrnak, * Pavel Zacha, * Casey Mittelstadt, and Viktor Arvidsson - Minten, Dans Locmelis, Matej Blumel, Marat Khusnutdinov, Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov, and Alex Steeves are all players who will be challenging Poitras, and expecting to push for two third line vacancies to play alongside Tanner Jeannot who is projected to start the year as 3rd line left wing.

* Don't think they're getting traded before the start of the season

But to your point, let's say hypothetically that by the time James Hagens plays for the Bruins (which could be as soon as next spring or as late as next fall) and Poitras, Minten or someone else like Locmelis has taken off as the Bruins No. 2 center - then yes Casey Mittelstadt becomes vulnerable.

But I don't think the Bruins are in a rush to trade him before or during camp so that Poitras can make the opening night lineup and while Hagens is still playing games in Chestnut Hill.

Mittelstadt doesn't exactly have the highest stock around the league right now and his $5.75M cap hit isn't the easiest to move at the moment.

It's also worth noting that Viktor Arvidsson has one year left on his deal, and even if he plays all year on Boston's 2nd line, and or doesn't get traded at the deadline - I'd imagine he won't be back for the 2026-2027 season and therefore won't be in the way of some of these younger players (one of whom may surpass Arvidsson at wing this year anyway and push him down the lineup).

Thanks for the question, Maria!

Yes, you're exactly right about last year's training camp.

As an eye-witness I noticed the lack of pace, intensity, and cohesion right away - and it carried over into their regular season practices.

The only practices where they showed any intensity or purpose last year where I was in attendance were after a few blow out losses, and the practice after Jim Montgomery was fired.

Now last season was the perfect storm of bad.

The summer time distraction of Jeremy Swayman's public contract negotiations, key players coming off of offseason surgeries, incoming players getting injured in training camp, Montgomery entering the year as a lame duck head coach, etc.

Camp simply got off on the wrong foot because the team wasn't a unit, everyone was focusing on their own personal agendas right, or wrong, with plenty of blame to go around.

This offseason already appears to be off to a better start.

Still embarrassed from last year, and eager to right some wrongs, a handful of Bruins players have already been skating together in Boston almost all summer preparing for training camp.

Marco Sturm has been communicating with his new players, and leaders going over the tone, and expectations of being a Boston Bruin that players are going to be held accountable to uphold.

Captains practices are set to begin over the next few weeks as well.

Specifically, and to your question Maria, I anticipate Boston's effort, pace, intensity, purpose, connectivity, and attention to detail (especially on special teams) to all be vastly improved upon compared to last years training camp.

There's also a few more forward jobs available this year compared to last and a dozen capable forwards competing for those few spots that should drive up the competitive juices.

From a team wide perspective, offense isn't expected to be the Bruins strength.

They'll be unlikely to score their way out of a 4-9-2 October - and so if they want any hope of making the playoffs, a strong start is going to be imperative and they know it begins at training camp.

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That wraps it up for this week, thank you all for reading along!