Bruins cut Anton Blidh, Paul Carey from return to play roster

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Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated Saturday that a pair of forwards would be the cuts from their Phase 3 training camp roster, and his words rang true when the NHL released playoff rosters for all 24 NHL teams on Sunday afternoon.

Forwards Anton Blidh and Paul Carey were the only players cut from Phase 3 Return to Play camp as the Bruins group boarded a plane on Sunday afternoon headed for the Toronto Hub City.

“Everybody has worked hard getting to this point and looking forward to getting to Toronto,” said Cassidy. “I think we’ve been well-taken care of and now we have a job to do. We’re trying to do our part for the good of the game. We’re grateful for the opportunity to be healthy and get a chance to participate. I think every team would say the same thing, so let’s get there and let the best team win.”

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Cassidy said it was unlikely that Ondrej Kase was going to be traveling with the rest of the team while absent due to being “unfit to participate”, but he was obviously still included on the roster even if he ends up joining the team at a later date. Both David Pastrnak and Nick Ritchie, who had missed significant camp time, were both expected to be flying with the Bruins on Sunday.

The move to cut Carey wasn’t a surprising one as he’s a veteran journeyman who had limited upside for this Bruins group, particularly with the inclusion of young gun forwards like Jack Studnicka, Zach Senyshyn and Trent Frederic on the roster. The Blidh move is a little more surprising given that the scrappy Swedish forward has had a few looks with Boston over the last few seasons. His physical, antagonistic style of play could have been a good fit for the postseason if that was a direction Boston wanted to go.

The Bruins would seem to have plenty of depth when it comes to gritty fourth-line forwards, however, with Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner, Par Lindholm, Joakim Nordstrom, Karson Kuhlman and Frederic all filling that kind of role over the next few months.

The good news for the Bruins is that they are well-stocked at goaltender with the Tuukka Rask/Jaroslav Halak duo along with Dan Vladar and Kyle Keyser, and they had very few absences or issues in camp among their group of 10 defensemen. The continuity and depth on the back end should be a real strength for the Black and Gold during the postseason provided they can remain healthy once the games begin.

Here's the Phase 4 roster for the Bruins with the NHL setting turning to Toronto next week for the Black and Gold along with the other 11 Eastern Conference teams:

Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic, Ondrej Kase, David Krejci, Karson Kuhlman, Sean Kuraly, Par Lindholm, Brad Marchand, Joakim Nordstrom, David Pastrnak, Nick Ritchie, Zach Senyshyn, Jack Studnicka, Chris Wagner

Defensemen: Brandon Carlo, Zdeno Chara, Connor Clifton, Matt Grzelcyk, Torey Krug, Jeremy Lauzon, Charlie McAvoy, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril

Goaltenders: Jaroslav Halak, Maxime Lagace, Tuukka Rask, Dan Vladar.

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