Bruins notebook: Curtis Lazar “week-to-week” with upper body injury

Curtis Lazar has been the Bruins’ best fourth-liner in preseason, but it appears he may not be ready for the start of the season.

Coach Bruce Cassidy did not rule him for the Oct. 16 opener against Dallas and did not specify the injury other than that it was of the upper body variety, but he termed Lazar as “week-to-week,” which is usually not the best for a quick turnaround.

“It’s going to require a little more time because of the inflammation to get an exact diagnosis. But right now, we’re going to list him as week-to-week and hopefully it’s on the short end of that,” said Cassidy on Friday.

Lazar had been manning the right wing on the fourth line and though the line has had issues sorting out its defensive zone coverages, the trade deadline acquisition from Buffalo has been a bright spot, taking the body and generally playing the energetic style needed for fourth line duty. He got hurt in Wednesday’s preseason finale taking the puck to the net and crashing into the post.

With Lazar being a right shot, his potential absence begs the question of whether that opens up a spot for fellow righty Jack Studnicka, who has played wing in the past but has been at center exclusively in the preseason and in a top-nine role but was pushed out of that bracket with the return of Charlie Coyle in the final preseason game.

But despite having a good camp, Studnicka seems destined to be a victim of a numbers game, at least to start the season. Studnicka is still exempt from waivers. The B’s don’t open up for another week, so there is still time for the subject to be debated by the coaching and management staffs but it still sounds like he’ll be headed to Providence. The fourth and fifth lines (make your own determination on which was which) in Friday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena was Trent Frederic–Tomas Nosek–Karson Kuhlman as one unit while Studnicka centered a combo with wings Anton Blidh and Chris Wagner.

“I’ll be very open with you. We like our top nine right now,” said Cassidy. “There’s no complaints on where they are. We weren’t sure on Coyle coming in to camp, health-wise, so now he goes out and plays very well the other night and comes through it fine and healthy, ready to go. So now you look at the bottom of the lineup. Is that the best spot for Jack? Is it the best for his development, is it best for the team? We’ll answer those questions internally. And that’s what he’s up against. Yet he’s done everything we’ve asked. One of the things I’ve liked about Jack, not only the production… but he’s played a lot stronger game, he’s played on his forehand, hasn’t turned the puck over as much….He’s put emphasis on those things as opposed to maybe as a young guy coming in thinking ‘I’ve got to score to make the team.’ Yeah, eventually, you have to. But if you could do the other things well, at least you get on the ice and get a chance to score. That goes hand in hand. It’s how you build trust with your coaching staff and your teammates. That part with Jack has gone well. It’s just that the other guys have played well, too. It’s one of those good problems to have. We’ll sort through it this week and make a decision. But we’re going to to do what’s best for the Bruins and what’s best for Jack. And if we decide he has to be a top-nine guy, then we’ll have to make that decision.”

This and that

Cassidy said that the second alternate captain “A” will rotate throughout the season. David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo have all worn it during the preseason.

“I think there’s a lot of guys that can handle it. But we want to grow it a little bit because I think there are different guys who can grow into that,” said Cassidy.

Pastrnak wore the A on Wednesday’s preseason finale.

“It was obviously an honor and it just reminds you how long you’ve been here. I want to become one of the leaders and you’re getting older year by year and I’m just trying to learn. I’ve been around some of the best leaders in hockey,” said Pastrnak.

Pastrnak also received another honor on Thursday when he was one of the first three players named to the Czech Olympic team along with Jakub Voracek and Ondrej Palat.

“Very happy message (Thursday),” said Pastrnak. “It’s a childhood dream to represent your country. It was very touching. I’ll always love to represent my country and it’s very humbling…

You would have thought Pastrnak had been playing with Erik Haula for quite some time with the way the pair hooked up on Pastrnak’s goal on Wednesday. Haula made a perfect bank pass off the end boards that bounced out to the streaking Pastrnak in the right wing.

“It’s just hockey IQ all around. He showed he has a great hockey IQ,” said Pastrnak. “He saw the play develop and made a great pass. It’s not always so easy. It even caught me a little bit by surprise. It’s nice to get to know the new guys like that.”…

Goalie Troy Grosenick and forward Steven Fogarty cleared waivers and and were assigned to Providence. Urho Vaakanainen (upper body) returned to practice in a red non-contact jersey. With Jakub Zboril and John Moore ahead of him for the seventh and eighth defense spots, Vaakanainen will presumably head to Providence when he’s healthy.