The Bruins are getting closer to setting their opening night roster, sending 14 players to AHL Providence on Wednesday afternoon.
Those players are Jack Ahcan, Samuel Asselin, Matt Filipe, Jesper Froden, Curtis Hall, Cam Hughes, Kyle Keyser, Joona Koppanen, Jakub Lauko, Tyler Lewington, Brady Lyle, Zach Senyshyn, Oskar Steen and Nick Wolff. In addition, forward Steven Fogarty was placed on waivers and will be sent to Providence as long as he isn't claimed.
No surprises there, as no one in that group was expected to make the Bruins' opening night roster. Among those who had impressive showings in training camp and preseason games are Froden and Lauko up front and Ahcan and Lyle on defense, all of whom have put themselves at or near the top of the list for call-ups whenever there's an opening.
The Bruins are set to host the Capitals in their final preseason game Wednesday night. Their expected lineup for the game is as follows:
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - David Pastrnak
Taylor Hall - Charlie Coyle - Craig Smith
Jake DeBrusk - Erik Haula - Nick Foligno
Trent Frederic - Tomas Nosek - Curtis Lazar
Derek Forbort - Charlie McAvoy
Mike Reilly - Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk - Connor Clifton
Linus Ullmark will start in goal and is expected to play the whole game. Either Jeremy Swayman or Troy Grosenick will back him up.
In addition to the players in the lineup, six other skaters are on their game roster as well: forwards Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Jack Studnicka and Chris Wagner; and defensemen John Moore and Jakub Zboril. Defenseman Urho Vaakanainen is still in camp as well, but is not on Wednesday's game roster. He has been dealing with an upper-body injury.
The Bruins will need to make at least five more cuts to get down to the 23-man roster limit for opening night on Oct. 16. Everyone except Studnicka, Vaakanainen and Swayman would need to clear waivers to be sent down (and obviously Swayman is not going anywhere).
