Poitras Eager for Opportunity at World Juniors

BOSTON – Matt Poitras always had visions of suiting up for Canada at the World Junior Championships.

Last summer, in fact, he trained with that tournament at the forefront of his mind with his goal being to return to Guelph and perform well enough that the Hockey Canada executives would want him donning the red, white, and black come Christmas.

His path, however, took quite a different turn when he made the Bruins out of training camp and became a regular NHLer. Thus, his participation in the 2024 World Juniors was very much in question – until Monday morning.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced that Poitras will, in fact, be assigned to Team Canada for the upcoming tournament and join his teammates in Sweden this week.

“This is what was in the back of my mind all summer,” said Poitras. “I was in the gym working hard. It was, ‘go to Guelph, have a good start, and hopefully get the opportunity to play for my country.’

“It didn’t exactly work out that way, but I still get the opportunity to go, and I’m excited.”

Poitras admitted that there are mixed emotions as he leaves the Bruins for at least the next two weeks, but that, ultimately, getting the chance to play in a tournament he has always dreamed of participating in is certainly a positive.

“Obviously you never want to leave the NHL, but I'm excited to get over there and play for my country. I mean, I’d never complain about that, it’s a dream come true,” said Poitras, who found out over the weekend that he’d be joining Team Canada.

“Every year around Christmas time, it’s the best part of the year because it’s Boxing Day and you get to turn on the World Juniors. I’ve been watching Canada play every single year since…I don’t know how long. It’s a good opportunity and I’m very excited.

“This was kind of a last chance…you can't go back and play next year, so I think we both think it's a good opportunity to go over there and play and have fun.”

Sweeney said that there is “no downside” to Poitras going to represent his country even if that means leaving the NHL for a short period of time.

“This is quite an accomplishment for all young hockey players to take a chance to represent their country at one of the biggest stages,” said Sweeney. “It's unique in the fact he's playing the NHL, so that's the first thing, probably, goes through anybody's mind as ‘what’s the trade off?’ But there's really no downside for him to go and represent and be a leader on that team, and hopefully accomplish the ultimate goal…

“We’re excited for Matty and he'll represent the Boston Bruins, himself, and his family and continue to do very well.”

Boston’s general manager did establish that Poitras will return to Boston upon the conclusion of the tournament, which – in some ways – will act as a bit of a reprieve from the NHL grind, something that the Bruins were already mindful of as they began to prioritize “load management” over the last several weeks.

“We had a plan in place, as you might be aware, in more recent weeks that we needed to back off a little bit what his load was,” said Sweeney. “It’s a lot of hockey, and there's a lot of pressure associated with that. I think it gets him a chance, mentally and physically, to have a little bit of a reset, go and play against your peer group – now again, it's high expectations and high-leverage, pressured situations that he's now been thrust into at the highest level you can possibly play at.

“He should handle that well, he should take those things that happen in our locker room and impart them on his new teammates, and lead from the front, and that's what we're hoping for.

“He'll come back and reinsert himself with us. It's a tough challenge to get right back on the road and go to the West Coast, so we have to monitor that when he gets back. But he's coming back to join the Boston Bruins and continue along the path that he's been, which has been outstanding so far.”

Sweeney believes that Poitras having been reassured that he’ll be back with the Bruins after World Juniors “probably takes a little pressure off.”

“He's coming back, he's earned that, we made that commitment to him,” said Sweeney. “He'll have to earn his right – just like he did coming out of training camp – to stay in our lineup and continue to contribute to our lineup. But I think the overall plan has been presented to him.

“We've certainly discussed it internally at length…not unlike when he doesn't play in the Island, but then turns around and plays against the Rangers on Saturday and has a little more renewed energy...

“I think that's all been received very well from him, but he's going through it for the first time, so he's going to have some mixed emotions.”

Poitras echoed Sweeney’s assessment that this could act as a strong “reset” for him ahead of the second half of the season.

"It definitely feels good that I'm going to be coming back here after, and I'm just going to keep working and competing every day, and try and earn more and more ice time, and try and build confidence in me from the coaches,” said Poitras, who has registered 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 27 games this season.

“It's going to be a good reset. The NHL schedule is really grueling, traveling the day before games, being in a hotel a lot – it is pretty difficult. So, I'm sure it's going to be a good reset to kind of stay in one spot.”

Poitras hopes that the tournament will allow for his confidence to continue building and the habits he’s established at the NHL to keep developing.

“Just because I'm going to junior hockey doesn't mean I can't keep up the habits I’ve built here,” said Poitras. “I feel like I've been playing well, [the management and coaching staffs] said I look good. It's more just cleaning up little things, shorter shifts, and maybe some decisions that I'm not used to coming from the OHL.

“Or maybe I don't dump the puck in just because I have the ability to hold on to it, where here I'm going to get closed off, and maybe a turnover at the blue line’s going the other way, so just working on cleaning up a few things, dumping pucks in when you need to and kind of playing down low.”

Sweeney mentioned similar areas for improvement when asked how Poitras has handled having his minutes limited in the third period at various points over the last few weeks.

“There's a lot of guys that go through the league and get their ice time shortened. If you play long enough, you’re going to go through that,” said Sweeney. “Puck management, an extended shift in one case, it's just a real good learning opportunity. And that's exactly how was it was attributed, right back in the next night, and back in the situation, rebounding to play 14 minutes and contribute – not to strip away his confidence.

“Making sure that communication is really positive in that sense. But you’ve got to go through some growing pains at times that every player goes through. The league does get harder, and he's going through that for the first six months.

“As much as you want to talk to a player about that, you’ve got to go through it, live it.”

Sweeney added that he’s been pleased with how Poitras has responded to the adversity that’s come his way so far during his rookie campaign.

“It's just a steep learning curve, and he's handled it really well,” said Sweeney. “I mean, he comes back in some of the games where he's made a couple of booboos, and hasn't lost his confidence, will go out and play the next play…doesn't play in Long Island, watches – actually mentioned to me that sometimes it is really beneficial to watch how hard this league is, how big some of the D are and when they're going to close you off, and then he'll make a really good play that helps set up a goal against the Rangers.

“I love that about him. He’s going through it for the first time, but he's learning from each one of those experiences, tried to apply it, and hopefully he's a lot better off coming out the other side.”

With the emergence of Morgan Geekie as a viable center option over the past several games and Pavel Zacha’s return to practice on Monday, Sweeney acknowledged that the decision to send Poitras to World Juniors became a bit easier.

“Getting somewhat healthy leading up to this decision was certainly part of the process, and why we took this down to the wire to make our decision,” said Sweeney. “Hopefully we get Pav back this week…Geeks has played really well since he's come back from his injury, and that depth down the middle of the ice when he’s gone and played there, so we feel a little more comfortable where we are right now than where we had been a couple of weeks ago.

“But Matty will be missed because he's done a good job.”

McAvoy, Zacha Return to Practice

Charlie McAvoy and Zacha joined the team as full participants for Monday’s practice.

Zacha has missed the last three games with an upper-body injury.

“Had a good couple practices, first one with the team today. I felt really good,” said Zacha. “Excited to be on the ice with everyone now and play [Tuesday].”

McAvoy, meanwhile, has been sidelined for four straight games due to his own upper-body injury suffered when he took a reverse hit from Buffalo’s J.J. Peterka on Dec. 7.

“Day to day, we’ll see how it is in the morning,” McAvoy said when asked if he’d be returning on Tuesday night vs. Minnesota.

The blue liner added that he had no problem with the hit.

Wait, There’s More

• At the end of Monday’s practice, Montgomery informed the team that Poitras would be heading to World Juniors and pitted the centerman against American Jeremy Swayman in a shootout. Swayman stoned Poitras on all three attempts, leading to a joyous celebration – with “USA” chants – among the B’s American players. “I mean, the ice was terrible [at the end of practice],” said Poitras. “I couldn't stickhandle, so I'll leave it at that.”
• Defenseman Ian Mitchell – along with forward Jesper Boqvist – was assigned to Providence over the weekend. “Ian went down and played [Sunday],” said Sweeney. “Keeping him as sharp as possible and getting him in minutes and some situations that maybe he wasn't playing here. He got on the power play there…and you can see as his confidence and his puck poise in the offensive blue line sort of returning because he's got more touches. We've asked him to, from within the structure of our own game, to continue to learn to close and kill plays defensively, and then use your legs and your ability to transition pucks.”
• Blue liner Parker Wotherspoon, who has played well in two different stints with the big club this season, remained with Boston for Monday’s practice. “He was in Bridgeport and [Long] Island for his whole career leading up to this year. In that league, you play against those teams an awful lot. Bridgeport was always a really stout team to play against, aggressive to defend, brought the ability to transition pucks. We started to appreciate his game more and more. Now, you never know how it applies bringing it to your own organization, you hope those attributes continue to shine. He's shown the flexibility to play both left and right, which is another plus for us. He just brings a little bit more bite in some situations that we think lends to what our group needs overall and provides some balance.”
• Sweeney said that, in addition to himself, the Bruins management contingent at the World Junior tournament will include European Scouting Coordinator P.J. Axelsson, Director of Amateur Scouting Ryan Nadeau, Associate Director of Amateur Scouting Dean Malkoc, and Assistant GM Jamie Langenbrunner.