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Bruins give potential preview of fourth line on Day 1 |
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Ty Anderson
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Reading into the first day of lines and pairings at training camp can often be a completely meaningless exercise and an outright waste of time.
But if there was anything to take from the first day of training camp at Brighton's Warrior Ice Arena, it's that the Bruins may have their ideal fourth line -- at least in terms of desired complexion and skill set -- with Johnny Beecher between Milan Lucic and Jakub Lauko.
Given the near-certainty that both Lucic and Lauko will make this team and serve as the team's fourth-line winger combo, putting Beecher between 'em feels noteworthy. Even if the Bruins won't outright say it.
“We’re just looking to see if there’s chemistry, right?” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said following day one of camp. “Like [seeing] how is Beecher going to be able to play with guys we expect to be on our team this year.”
On the ice, the speed of Beecher and Lauko paired with the size of Lucic was noticeable. Beecher has spent the majority of his offseason working on his offensive touch around the front of the net -- tip drills, second-chance looks, and things of that nature -- but is also well aware that fourth-line may be his way to crack this roster.
“I think if I’m to contribute to the team this year and be able to help them, [the fourth line] is probably where I’m going to do the best,” Beecher acknowledged. “And, I mean, it’s not a role that I have any problem playing. I’ve played on so many high-powered offenses. You look back at my time at USA and then over at Michigan, I was always kind of playing that power forward role, being heavy and hard to play against in the D-zone.”
Another thing helping Beecher is the Bruins' need for another left-shooting faceoff option to emerge on this roster. As it stands right now, Pavel Zacha is by all means the only lefty center the Bruins feel comfortable putting out there for a critical draw. The Bruins could ask Trent Frederic to take some draws, but it's admittedly not a focus for the Bruins, as they view Frederic as more of a winger than a center at this level.
On Thursday, Montgomery said that winning faceoffs would 'absolutely' be Beecher's pathway towards making the NHL roster.
Drafted by the Bruins with a first-round pick back in 2019, Beecher's hype train finally arriving at fourth-line center may not be what the Bruins dreamt up when they drafted him back in 2019, but it's here all the same. And with P-Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel serving as one of the conductors.
“John Beecher’s growth for us, it’s been great,” Mougenel said last week. “I would say, he’s not the only player to come down to Providence and and I wouldn’t necessarily say struggle, but maybe have a little bit of identity issue early on. And by the second half he was our go-to guy down there for a lot of situations. His skating obviously separates him from most of his peers down there, the ability to hang onto a puck and get in and be first to puck is something that he did really well. And then the one thing we really liked about John by the end of the year was his willingness to play a physical brand of hockey.”
Other news and notes...
- In camp invite news, the first day of training camp saw Danton Heinen skate on a line with Georgii Merkulov and Jake DeBrusk.
Speaking ahead of training camp, Heinen noted that Montgomery, who coached him at Denver, was a big reason why he accepted the B's tryout offer. And on Thursday, Montgomery spoke about what Heinen was for both the Pioneers and the Bruins.
“At Denver, [Heinen] was our best player. I had him for two years and when he got there, all of a sudden we went from a real poor offensive team to a much better one. I know at this level he’s not the same player he was at the college level, and that’s true for everybody. And he’s learned,” Montgomery said. “But if I look at the team that lost to the Blues, he played on the third line and had 12 points, I believe, in 21 games in the playoffs. So he was an important part that helped the Bruins get to the Finals.
“So this is someone that’s been proven to do a lot of good things and yet at the NHL level and we need to see him show that why he needs the opportunity to be a Bruin again.”
- Some other line notes: The Bruins put Fabian Lysell to the right of Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand, while Matt Poitras centered a line with Jesper Boqvist and David Pastrnak on the wings. This is kind of what Montgomery believes in: He wants to see most camp lines be either two young players and a veteran, or a young player with two veterans.
It's either Boston or back to juniors for Poitras, but he's made it clear that he wants to make that decision extremely difficult on the Bruins.
Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. He has been covering the Bruins since 2010, and has been a member of the Boston chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, HockeyBuzz.com or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter/X: @_TyAnderson.
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