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Frederic Would Welcome Full-Time Move To Center

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Boston Bruins

In his team’s final media availability, Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic said he will be ready if the Bruins need to switch him to a full-time center to help fill the void up the middle should both, or even one of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retire.

“That would be awesome. That’s been my position my whole life until I got here,” Frederic replied when asked if he would welcome the opportunity to play at his natural position on a full-time basis next season.

Trent Frederic is now an arbitration eligible restricted free agent and is awaiting a qualifying offer from the Boston Bruins. Frederic told reporters that his agent Allain Roy and Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney have already been talking about a new contract. After career-high in goals (17), assists (14) and points with 31 in 79 games, the 25-year-old Frederic is in for a pay raise from the $1.05 million cap hit he carried for each of the last two seasons.

Both Bergeron and Krejci are going to take some time to make a decision on their playing future but if the team’s two pillars up the middle for the last decade do move on, Frederic has let it be known he’d be interested being part of the team’s new center depth chart. When Bergeron and Krejci were out of the lineup, and even when they were healthy at times, first-year Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery allowed some trial runs for not just Frederic but also for his coaching staff and the entire hockey operations staff.

The Bruins made no secrets about the fact that this season was an open audition at center for the likes of Frederic, Charlie Coyle, and Pavel Zacha. The latter two clearly have the inside track on a top 6 center slot, but there will be a domino effect and Frederic would be just fine as the new 3C or 4C for the Boston Bruins next season.

“I came in as a center and then went to left and played a lot of right this year, which I really like,” Frederic explained. “It was nice to go back and play center. I want to focus on faceoffs this summer to be trusted in that aspect (of the game). I’ve been good at faceoffs my whole life. … I think I can do a good job and help this team.”

 

 

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