Matt Poitras is good enough to play in the NHL right now and he’s certainly good enough to help the Bruins right now.
That shouldn’t and probably won’t be the only factor the Bruins ponder as they make a final decision about his future.
Here’s what factors should have been weighing into their decision since the start of camp:
Is he good enough? — That’s pretty clearly been answered. He is.
He’s offensively gifted, a good skater and has a high hockey IQ. He’s done a nice job of not only improving and adapting from game to game but recognizing which parts of his game need improvement.
It’s reasonable to hope Poitras can be better in January than he is now. But even if he isn’t, the guy who outplayed Connor Bedard on in Tuesday’s 3-0 win, is good enough for this year.
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Are the Bruins good enough to keep him? — The Bruins would have been foolish to make this point publicly early on, but if Poitras played well and the rest of the team had come out of the gate struggling, there would have been incentive to send him back to Guelph.
In that scenario, it would have made sense to wait to start his clock rather than waste a year of his rookie contract on a lost season.
That said, the Bruins have looked more than good enough, albeit against bad teams, to contend to make the playoffs and Poitras looks like he is good enough to make them better.
What are their options without him? Do the Bruins need Poitras to be good enough to contend? — As good as Poitras has been, if Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci hadn’t retired Poitras would be in Guelph no matter how he played in the preseason, because the Bruins wouldn’t need him yet.
But Bergeron and Krejci aren’t coming back. Boston’s center depth is painfully thin. To reach their ceiling they need Poitras.
Right now Pavel Zacha, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk have proven to be capable of being top-six caliber forwards. After that, the Bruins have players, who’d be terrific natural third and fourth-liners — Charlie Coyle, James Van Riemsdyk, Trent Frederic, Morgan Geekie, Milan Lucic etc.
Geekie is already being asked to play on the second line, which may or may not turn out to be a reach. If Poitras isn’t there, the Bruins will be forced to rely much more heavily on Coyle, van Riemsdyk and Lucic playing on the top two lines than they want to and then Patrick Brown or maybe Danton Heinen or somebody in Providence on the fourth line.
Poitras has real top-six potential. If he can approach that potential this year, the whole team gets a lift.
Is he durable enough yet to withstand the rigors of a full season? — This is the big question and hardest answer to determine. At 5-foot-11, 177 pounds, Poitras is the lightest guy on the Bruins roster. He’ll certainly fill out a bit as he gets older. But for 2023-24, that’s going to be his stature. Opponents haven’t really gone after him yet. But when Boston takes on Eastern Conference opponents in games with playoff implications, their more rugged blue-liners are going to try to lean on Poitras and wear him down. Can he handle that?
That will be a gamble. It would be a shame to waste a year of his rookie contract if he’s struggling physically by February. But it would be a mistake to waste an opportunity on a concern that might not come to fruition anyway.
They’ll need to be smart with his rest all year, sometimes prioritizing recovery and maintenance over practice time that he’d benefit from. If he needs to sit out a game or two late after hitting the rookie wall, the Bruins should be prepared and act accordingly. After that, they can cross their fingers and hope for the best.
Matt Poitras is a low-cost, high-potential player who can help them bridge the gap between Bergeron and Krejci leaving and more salary cap flexibility next summer. That’s a break the Bruins weren’t counting on coming into the season. They’d be crazy not to take full advantage.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
