hall_grizz

BOSTON - The Bruins' Opening Night roster is coming into focus and two injured players could be pushing to be a part of it.
Both Taylor Hall and Matt Grzelcyk skated with their teammates at Warrior Ice Arena as Boston trimmed its roster down to one group for Thursday's practice session.

Hall, who had originally been termed week-to-week after suffering an upper-body injury last Saturday against Philadelphia, joined the group donning a yellow non-contact jersey and could be much closer to a return than initially anticipated - which coach Jim Montgomery indicated on Wednesday before the B's preseason tilt in New York.
"What I'm finding out is how tough he is, and I guess his pain tolerance is really high," said Montgomery. "He's pushing it. He doesn't want it to be week-to-week. We're just monitoring it right now…there's a little bit of hope that he can be back sooner than week-to-week."
Grzelcyk, meanwhile, also appears to be ahead of schedule as he rehabs from offseason shoulder surgery. The blue liner, who had a right shoulder stabilization procedure on June 3, was originally given a recovery timeline of five months. He, too, was in a yellow sweater on Thursday.
"I don't have official timelines for either. The yellow jerseys are they're not supposed to be hit so there's no contact involved. Grzelcyk is gonna go into a regular jersey real quick, which is good. He's ahead of schedule," Montgomery said following Thursday's practice, while adding that Grzelcyk could be a week or more ahead of the original timeline.

Slimming Down

The Bruins announced a bevy of roster moves on Thursday as nine players were cut from camp. goalie Keith Kinkaid, forwards Joona Koppanen and Vinni Lettieri, and defenseman Dan Renouf were placed on waivers for the purpose of assignment to Providence, while defenseman Jack Ahcan, goalie Kyle Keyser, and forwards Johnny Beecher, Fabian Lysell, and Marc McLaughlin were assigned to Providence.
Here is what Montgomery had to say about some of the players heading to the P-Bruins:
Marc McLaughlin:"There's a lot that goes into it. He had a great camp. We're really happy with his development. There's certain areas of his game that we really want him to focus on down in Providence, details, physicality, his production, his tenacity on pucks, his ability score - all of that has shone through. He's going to be a big part of our future. We have great depth. Right now, it's what we think is best for the Boston Bruins moving forward."
Fabian Lysell and Johnny Beecher: "They are tremendous young hockey players that are going to be really good Boston Bruins in the future. [Wednesday] night, that was their first opportunity to play against a real NHL lineup and you can see where they need to continue to grow their game and that's why it's great to have such a great coaching staff in Providence that are good at developing these young players that are going to be a big part of our future in the near future and play games this year.
"[Lysell] needs to learn the consistency of being a pro. I think [Jack] Studnicka has learned that, he's had his tutelage in Providence. I think that's why he could assert himself playing against [Vincent] Trocheck most of the night [Wednesday] night. And yYsell, that's his first time, you're in Madison Square Garden, you're playing against [Artemi] Panarin and [Mika] Zibanejad and all those guys you've watched on TV.
"Sometimes, players are ready for it, sometimes players need to grow from it. He's in a situation where he's gonna grow from it. He's a tremendous talent, he's a competitor. And he's gonna be someone that's gonna help the Bruins for a long time. "
And here is what Montgomery said about some of the players remaining in camp:
Jack Studnicka: "He played really well [Wednesday] night. If you look at how he played, he's earned the right to continue to be here…if he's on the fourth line, he's not a fourth-line, heavy, physical player. We just want him first on pucks and being able to protect himself and protect pucks to gain momentum and maybe add more offense in that fourth-line position.
"We've just got to work with him on making him aware of not putting himself in such vulnerable positions to receive those kinds of hits. He took two hard ones [in New York] and that's happened to him before in the past from the knowledge I've received from [Bruins GM Don Sweeney] and other coaches. That's something that's part of his development."
Jakub Lauko: "His speed, his ability to put the other team on their heels by how he drives the net off the rush - he's just someone that can bring speed to the third and fourth line, that tenacity and physicality involved. He goes to hard areas which draws penalties, which gains momentum, which creates rebound chances, so we've just liked what he's done so far and want to see him play again on Saturday."
Anton Stralman: "I just really love his poise, his game management. Even [Wednesday], there was a couple plays he made - he made a play in the third where he got the puck at the offensive blue line, just made a little dink pass to the slot…and then we're in the zone for another 20 seconds. And we're playing with the lead, it's 5-4 at the time. To have that kind of poise and game management and know that you can make that play and have the time, his risk vs. reward is high."

Montgomery updates the media from WIA

Wait, There's More

Russo sits down with Pavel Zacha

Thursday's Practice Lines

FORWARDS
Nick Foligno - Patrice Bergeron - Jake DeBrusk
Pavel Zacha - David Krejci - David Pastrnak
A.J. Greer - Charlie Coyle - Craig Smith
Trent Frederic - Tomas Nosek - Jakub Lauko
Taylor Hall - Jack Studnicka - Chris Wagner

DEFENSEMEN
Hampus Lindholm - Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly - Jakub Zboril
Derek Forbort - Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelcyk - Anton Stralman

GOALIES
Jeremy Swayman
Linus Ullmark