Day Five: Lasting Impressions From Boston Bruins Development Camp

Plenty of highlights and improvements among Boston Bruins prospect ranks during the week-long camp at Warrior Ice Arena

BRIGHTON, MA – The five days are in the books for Boston Bruins development camp and another wave of B’s prospects have made impressions. Some were excellent first impressions, some were steady improvement from players that have shown some potential, a couple look like they will be NHL players sooner rather than later and some frankly don’t yet look like they’re living up to their potential.

But that’s the same just about every summer when the Bruins prospects, draft picks and some undrafted invites come in and skate for the week while meeting with Boston’s staff and getting much more familiar with the Original Six organization. Certainly, some young players stood out to Boston’s talent evaluators as Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney addressed the media at the end of the week.

“We had a really good week overall. Camp was well organized and the feedback from the players was that it was a hard week. It was five days on the ice which we’re always wrestling with, every team is doing it a little bit differently, some aren’t even going on the ice. So, it’s things we try and learn from and moving forward with,” said Sweeney. “You certainly saw players…the returning players generally feel much more comfortable. I was talking to Matty Poitras and Freddy Brunet, and guys that looked like they’ve had a good summer and [weren’t] anxious, Riley Duran was the same way.

“The older guys are just more comfortable and know what their expectations are of the camp. It’s not something in terms of making a team today, but they are just trying to make progression from where they are year over year and some of those guys certainly took steps forward on and off the ice with their training and their play.” 

Here are some thoughts from Friday’s final day on the ice where it was a 3-on-3 small area round robin tourney followed by a couple of periods of full ice scrimmage, first 5-on-5 and then 4-on-4 prior to an old-fashioned shootout at the end: