McLaughlin Headlines Boston Bruins Training Camp Cuts

BRIGHTON, MA – The Boston Bruins announced their last significant group of training camp roster cuts ahead of the weekend, and there were a few surprises on the list based on the way preseason played out.

Former Boston College captain Marc McLaughlin was the biggest surprise after an admittedly “great camp” with the Boston Bruins that included an assist in Wednesday night’s 5-4 win over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

Jake DeBrusk evens things up.

Good work by both Studnicka and McLaughlin down low to keep the play alive.

pic.twitter.com/CMvcdIzvAU

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) October 5, 2022

McLaughlin had teamed with Jack Studnicka and AJ Greer to be a very effective energy line during the entirety of camp and looked effective skating with Studnicka and Jake DeBrusk against the Blueshirts as well.

Certainly, McLaughlin’s status as a player that doesn’t require waivers played into his demotion to the AHL, even if Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said there’s also some development left to his game as well.

“He had a great camp. We’re really happy with his development. There are certain areas of his game we really want him to focus on down in Providence. Details, physicality & stuff,” said Montgomery. “His offensive production, his tenacity on pucks & ability to score…all of that has shown thru

“He’s going to be a big part of our future. We also have great depth, you know? So right now, it’s what we think is best for the Boston Bruins moving forward.”

Interestingly, Jakub Lauko is still with the NHL club at this point as a player with great skating speed, physicality and the ability to finish off the occasional offensive play.

Likewise former first round picks Johnny Beecher and Fabian Lysell were also returned to Providence ahead of the final exhibition game with Keith Kinkaid, Joona Koppanen, Vinni Lettieri and Dan Renouf placed on waivers while Jack Ahcan and Kyle Keyser were also outright sent down to the AHL.

The flurry of roster transactions leaves the Boston Bruins with 25 skaters on the practice ice including injured B’s Taylor Hall and Matt Grzelcyk, who were both wearing no-contact jerseys at Thursday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena. Here are the line combos and D-pairings from Wednesday’s practice with Anton Stralman also still around after seemingly earning a contract with his play during the preseason:

Foligno-Bergeron-DeBrusk

Zacha-Krejci-Pastrnak

Greer-Coyle-Smith

Frederic-Nosek-Lauko

Hall-Studnicka-Wagner

Lindholm-Carlo

Reilly-Zboril

Forbort-Clifton

Grzelcyk-Stralman

Linus Ullmark

Jeremy Swayman