Frederic, Ullmark Likely to Return to Lineup Against Canucks

BOSTON -Following the Bruins' loss to the New York Rangers on Friday afternoon, coach Bruce Cassidy hinted that some tweaks could be coming to his lineup. On Saturday morning, those changes were put into effect as Boston's bench boss instituted an entirely new third line centered by Trent Frederic, who is back to full health after missing the last seven games with a concussion.
Should the alterations stick for Sunday night's game against Vancouver at TD Garden, Frederic would be returning to his natural center position with Nick Foligno and Karson Kuhlman as his wings.

"We were looking at some different combinations today…Freddy in the middle, he hasn't played there a lot here but something we've always discussed," Cassidy said following the Bruins' practice at Warrior Ice Arena. "When's the right time, etcetera? Similar to Jack [Studnicka]. Maybe [Sunday against the Canucks] is the right time. We'll make that decision [on Sunday]. But that's how we looked today."
While the former first-round pick had adjusted to playing the wing at the NHL level, he is eager to get a chance to return to the middle of the ice, noting that it's always where he's felt most comfortable.
"I hadn't played wing until the start of last year, not even a year now. I guess I'm adjusting back to my normal position [on Sunday] if that's what they go with. I'm excited to play center if that's what happens," said Frederic. "I probably preferred it more in the past just because it's what I did. Now, obviously, it's whatever you're playing best at to help the team with.
"Just being in the middle of the ice is where I'm more comfortable. It's just what I've done my whole life up until last year. I guess the comfort of that - playing in the middle, you get more freedom skating wise, more ice, more under pucks, more responsibility in the D-zone which I like."

Frederic was injured on Nov. 9 when he took a booming open ice hit from Ottawa's Josh Brown in the neutral zone, though the 23-year-old acknowledged that it was the aftermath of the check that did most of the damage.
"Right away my vision was a little funky there," said Frederic. "I had some headaches, but it was mostly my vision. I guess if you hit the back of your head, that's your vision. It wasn't really the hit. That was fine. It was when I hit my head on the ice. I felt fine when I got up to skate and then the lights kind of went down and I knew I had to get off."
Craig Smith, who has two goals and four points over his last four games, appears to be getting back to full strength himself after missing time earlier this month due to an undisclosed injury and was reunited with Taylor Hall and Charlie Coyle during Saturday's skate. Tomas Nosek, meanwhile, shifted back down to his familiar fourth-line center role between Anton Blidh and Curtis Lazar.
"We'd like to reward the effort players, guys that have been in the league, needed some time," said Cassidy. "But if Freddy can bring a little bit more of a motor in the middle of the ice - and Kuhly played hard, effective hockey when he was in, we just ran into some numbers eventually. Maybe it's time for them to go back in and appreciate their spot in the lineup and work hard to keep it type of mentality. It can be a hard-working line.
"We know Nosey, no matter who he plays with, does a good job defensively…typically he's very responsible, he's played well with Blidh and Lazar in that role. Just moving pieces around."
With all the new trios up front, it appears that Erik Haula and Jake DeBrusk would be the odd men out against the Canucks.
"[Haula's] game right now, we need more compete out of him," said Cassidy. "He tends to get moving more in the middle. We haven't seen him on the wing. I can't rule it out, but right now we have an abundance of left-shot wingers. In the middle, that's what he was signed for to sort of anchor that line. It hasn't worked out as well as we'd like."

Ullmark Set to Return

After ceding the net to Jeremy Swayman for the past two games as he dealt with an undisclosed injury that was tweaked in Buffalo on Wednesday morning, Linus Ullmark is slated to be back between the pipes on Sunday night.
"I feel great. Back in business and ready to play," said Ullmark. "[The injury] was certainly a surprise. It was nothing that really happened that morning [in Buffalo]. It was something earlier that I thought would kind of be better that morning practice, but I took the decision that it's probably better if Sway goes because it wasn't good enough.
"The most sensible decision at that time was to step away from it and do some rehab, treatment, to be ready in the future. I'm just excited about going out there [on Sunday]."
Despite the setback, Ullmark feels that he's beginning to find his groove as he gets deeper into his first season with the Black & Gold.
"I'm pretty happy where I am right now," said the 28-year-old, who is 4-3-0 with a 2.87 goals against average and .908 save percentage. "It's still pretty early in the season but now is the time to step up the pace and crank up the engine a little bit and put the foot on the gas a little bit more. I feel like it's coming together.
"Getting more and more patient with all the stuff I've been working on with [goalie coach Bob Essensa], starting to settle in as well. There's new faces, new teammates, new coaches, all that sort of stuff. But I feel like we're in a good place - a happy place myself…couldn't be more happy."

Saturday's Practice Lineup

FORWARDS
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall - Charlie Coyle - Craig Smith
Nick Foligno - Trent Frederic - Karson Kuhlman
Anton Blidh - Tomas Nosek - Curtis Lazar
Jake DeBrusk - Erik Haula
DEFENSEMEN
Derek Forbort - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly - Jakub Zboril/Connor Clifton
GOALIES
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman