The Bruins announced on Monday that they’ve sent second-year center Matthew Poitras to AHL Providence. They now have two open roster spots, although it’s unclear when or if they intend to fill either of them.
Poitras, 20, hasn’t entirely looked like the player who forced his way onto Boston’s opening night roster last year and had cemented a top-nine role before a shoulder injury ended his season in January. He’s played in all 14 Bruins games since sitting out the first two contests of the season with an undisclosed injury but hasn’t made much of an impact, with only one goal and three assists while averaging 12:44 per game, down slightly from last season’s average ice time.
The 2022 second-round pick has shown improvement in the faceoff dot, winning 50.9% of his draws compared to 43.7% last season. But he’s played more at wing than center this season, regardless, and he’s regressed slightly in nearly every other area of the game. He’s got only 10 shots on goal compared to 40 in 33 games last season, and his possession quality numbers have regressed from a 51.5 xGF% in 2023-24 to a 44.8 xGF% so far in 2024-25. That’s despite the Bruins controlling the same percentage of scoring chances at 5-on-5 – 48.4% – as they did last season.
Last season, it was either the NHL or major junior for Poitras, who was coming off a spectacular 95-point showing with the OHL’s Guelph Storm in 2022-23. Now that he’s old enough for a full-time AHL assignment, it’s not entirely surprising to see the Bruins take advantage of that fact to get him some development time against easier competition while still playing in a professional enviroment.
Poitras being removed from the active roster will mean more playing time for Morgan Geekie, who’s been a healthy scratch on multiple occasions this season and has just two assists in 11 games after recording a career-high 17 goals and 39 points last year. In fact, Geekie will get a look as Boston’s top-line left wing alongside Pavel Zacha and David Pastrňák tomorrow against the Blues as the Bruins look to gain ground after a 7-7-2 start.
Poitras still has one season left after this one on his entry-level contract with a cap hit of $870K.
Poitras had a halo effect in limited appearances then got hurt so we didn’t get to see the downside until now. Not saying he doesn’t have a place, but that place is bottom-6 forward.