The Bruins continue to trim down their roster closer to the final group that will start the regular season as they cut a couple more promising young players from training camp. The team announced that defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and winger Ryan Fitzgerald were both sent down to AHL training camp in Providence after both players put together solid camp performances.
Fitzgerald scored in the first home preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings last week, and Lauzon scored the second goal in Monday night’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks while playing some pretty consistently rugged defense in his own end.
“[Lauzon] is a fun kid to watch, because he’s got a lot of passion for the game, very competitive. He just has to learn what he can get away with recovery-wise. He’s a guy that was talked about getting outside the dots at times where he’s got to work really hard to get back. He’ll give up the good ice sometimes,” said Bruce Cassidy. “Good for him [on the goal]. He got his shot through, I thought he was a lot more under control [against the Blackhawks]. You’d have to ask him, but he seemed less nervous as well and just wanted to play. Might just be a difference from playing a few more games.”
Both players put their best foot forward in the first full training camp for each of them, but their youth and their waiver-exempt status probably made it a bit easier to send them down at this point. With Lauzon now out of camp, it comes down to Matt Grzelcyk and Robbie O’Gara competing for a chance to break camp with the big club in the wake of Torey Krug’s injury likely costing him the first handful of games this season. Fitzgerald made a great impression on the Bruins coaching staff with his skill, hockey IQ and ability to show a little grit to go along with the offensive gifts that made him a scoring star at Boston College.
But Fitzgerald was also part of an extremely crowded field of talented skaters up front where it would appear that Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk have the inside track on NHL jobs, and more experienced skaters like Teddy Purcell and Kenny Agostino are still grinding away for chances at a spot on the Boston roster.