The Bruins put the final touches on their training camp roster with a couple of veteran tryouts for forwards Lee Stempniak and Daniel Winnik.
Bruins fans will remember Stempniak from his time with the Bruins during the 2015-16 season when he was a trade deadline pickup for the Black and Gold, and ended up having three goals and 10 points in 19 games mostly playing right wing with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
Winnik, a UNH alum who has played 798 regular season games with eight different NHL teams over the course of his career, is an interesting piece as a 33-year-old, 6-foot-2, 210-pound center who has been a gritty, decent offensive fourth line center (six goals, 23 points in 81 games for the Minnesota Wild last season) throughout his career.
Stempniak had been skating with the Bruins throughout captain’s practices over the last few weeks, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see him in Boston camp given his comfort level with the Black and Gold. Both players will serve as veteran insurance in case none of the youngsters up front prove that they’re ready for NHL prime time once training camp has ended, and pretty good veteran options on the back nine of their career.
All that being said, the Bruins want one of Anders Bjork/Danton Heinen/Ryan Donato to win a top-6 right wing job whether it’s on Patrice Bergeron’s line or David Krejci’s line, and they clearly also want one of Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson/Trent Frederic/Jack Studnicka to win the open third line center job as well. But incumbent fourth line center Sean Kuraly is also in the running for the third line center spot, and the Bruins will need a ready-made fourth line pivot replacement like Winnik if Kuraly ends up earning a line promotion during the next month.
So while it isn’t likely that either of the veteran players ends up cracking Boston’s NHL roster just as similar veteran players, like Teddy Purcell and Peter Mueller, didn’t in the last few seasons, Bruins GM Don Sweeney is crossing his I’s and dotting his T’s just to make sure every contingency is covered once things get moving in the preseason.