In an offseason where the Bruins have seemed intent on adding size, Matt Poitras has been focused on getting bigger himself.
A year ago, Poitras was the surprise success story of camp and the early season when he made the team as a 19-year-old. But the grind of the NHL wore down the 5-foot-11, 180-pound center, whose season was cut short by a shoulder injury that required surgery.
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Poitras is back on the ice this week at Bruins’ development camp. Now 20 and in his third development camp, he’s healthy and eager to be back on the ice after last playing on Jan. 25.
“It’s just nice to be back here and get on the ice and kind of get some reps in,” he said. “I’m feeling good. My shoulder is feeling good. Doing everything, shooting. I feel good. No pain or anything.”
While rehabbing his shoulder impacted Poitras’ ability to work in the weight room, he tried to use the time off the ice to add strength and muscle.
“That was a good time to just get in the gym and put some weight on. I put some weight on and feel thicker,” said Poitras, who guessed he’d added 8 or 9 pounds. “I need to put on a bit of size. I came in, I came into camp last year definitely undersized. There’s some bigger guys that maybe I couldn’t hold my own against as much. I’m trying this year to be a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger and to choose my spots a bit more because, sometimes I would take some big hits that were unnecessary. Maybe that’s why I didn’t really get the chance of the finish season.”
The goal isn’t just to ward off injury, but to be able to come away with the puck against bigger opponents.
“I want to be able to win those one-on-one battles because I’m a guy who likes to have the puck now in the zone. That’s where it stems from,” he said. “I pride myself on not being scared to go in the corners with bigger guys. Part of my game is that I can play and win those battles. It’s part of my game where I want to have the puck on my stick and if I want to do that, then I got to be able to get inside hands and win wall battles.”
After development camp, Poitras planned to stay in Boston through July, head back to Ontario for a few weeks then be back in August to get a head start of preparation for training camp.
