The Boston Bruins already moved one veteran player off their NHL roster when they waived Henri Jokiharju before the beginning of the new season.
They might have another decision to make soon: Matthew Poitras.
The new season begins on Tuesday night, and the Bruins are hoping to get back to the playoffs and improve upon their first-round exit from a year ago.
That can lead to some tough decisions, especially with some young players coming up and ready to take on bigger roles, like James Hagens.
There will always be those who end up just on the wrong side of the line, and there’s a chance Poitras finds himself there.
Bruins’ Matthew Poitras Plan
While Poitras hasn’t been a huge topic of national offseason conversation, he came up in the season-opening 32 Thoughts column by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
“Boston is trying to find a new home for Henri Jokiharju, who cleared waivers,” Friedman writes. “There are teams curious to see what they do with Matthew Poitras, who avoided them for the time being. Can’t imagine he’d slide through.”
It’s interesting that Friedman essentially writes that as if to say that Boston already would’ve passed Poitras through waivers if it was possible. It suggests the Bruins don’t have immediate NHL plans for Poitras.
But if they don’t want Poitras on their roster, what happens next? Do they trade him?
There are a lot of potential moving parts here as the NHL season gets underway, and a Poitras trade wouldn’t be as headline-grabbing as some of them. Still, a trade very early in the season would be a fascinating move, particularly in the sense of figuring out what might come back in Boston’s direction that would be worth more to the Bruins than the youthful Poitras.
Matthew Poitras Stats
Poitras remains just 22 years old after the Bruins took him as the No. 54 overall pick (second round) in the 2022 NHL Draft.
He has appeared in games in parts of three seasons with the Bruins.
In 2023-24, Poitras played 33 games and had 15 points (5 goals, 10 assists).
In 2024-25, Poitras played another 33 games and had 11 points — dishing out 10 assists and scoring a goal.
Poitras played in just three NHL games last season and scored a single goal.
It hasn’t been the most prolific start to his career, but as mentioned, he’s still just 22. The fact that he was contributing at all at these early ages seems to suggest there’s potential for Poitras to grow into something even better.
Of course, not every player improves at the same time or the same rate. Maybe the Bruins feel Poitras has run out of room to grow.
But if they truly feel that way, it creates some tough decisions. Since Poitras still has potential untapped upside, he’d surely get claimed on waivers. If the Bruins do want to move on, they’ll have to figure out a way to do it — and with the season getting underway, there’ll be a lot more moving parts that could make any deal potentially a bit more complicated.
Bruins Might Lose Matthew Poitras