Jim Montgomery and the Boston Bruins acknowledged that cuts were coming at some point this weekend.

And though they took until Sunday, and after Boston’s fourth game of the seven-game preseason slate (an overtime loss to the Flyers on Saturday night), the Bruins ensured that they got the most bang for their buck with their camp roster by all means halved following their transactions Sunday.

Beginning with the lone ‘risk’ move in terms of losing a player, the Bruins placed forward Marc McLaughlin on waivers for the purpose of assigning him to Providence. The 25-year-old made two appearances for the B’s this preseason, and was always a definite longshot to make the roster given the Black and Gold’s obvious surplus of bottom-six talents.

McLaughlin, signed by the Bruins in 2022, has totaled four goals and 21 hits in 14 career NHL games, but has struggled to find the footing he appeared to have under Bruce Cassidy under Montgomery.

But the headlines from Sunday’s 19-player slashing of the camp roster came with the demotion of both Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov down to P-Bruins camp.

Both Lysell and Merkulov were the talk of the summer from those inside the Bruins’ walls after the offseason departures of Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, and James van Riemsdyk, and with the Bruins having multiple openings in their top-nine forward group, including at the ‘RW2’ spot.

Where Bruins camp stands after latest cuts. pic.twitter.com/Mmhc3Ufx21

— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) September 29, 2024

For the 21-year-old Lysell, the preseason began with a complete dud that ended with everybody acknowledging that he had to be better if he had hopes of cracking the B’s roster. And, well, Lysell did that in his second outing, with a power-play snipe off a penalty drawn on his own.

If we’re going off the ‘Poitras Scale’ from a year ago, the 2021 first-round pick did not do enough to make himself undeniable for the Bruins. That much is clear. But the demotion is still a little confusing in the sense that the Bruins have three more preseason games and seemingly had ample opportunity to get Lysell the lineup with NHL-quality talent. (For reference on the last point there, it’s worth noting that Lysell’s final two appearances of the preseason came on a line with Johnny Beecher and Patrick Brown and a line with Riley Tufte and Jaxon Nelson in the game before that.)

Merkulov, meanwhile, will be demoted down to P-Bruins camp while being tied for the team lead in points in preseason, with two points (both assists). In addition to the points, Merkulov also recorded three hits, had one penalty drawn, and won 14 of his 30 battles at the dot.

Elsewhere up front, the Bruins also reassigned forwards Joey Abate, Riley Duran, Brett Harrison, Trevor Kuntar, Adam Mechura, and Jaxon Nelson to AHL Providence. Both Harrison (Thursday in NY) and Kuntar (last Sunday against the Rangers) found the back of the net during their preseason runs with the Bruins.

One notable when it came to this round of cuts is that Tyler Johnson, who is with the Bruins on a pro tryout, remains with the NHL club here beyond the halfway point of the preseason slate.

On the point, the Bruins went with some definite expected cuts, with Drew Bavaro, Frederic Brunet, Michael Callahan, Jackson Edward, Ryan Mast, and Mason Millman all assigned to Providence for the opening of P-Bruins camp. Nobody in this group was expected to compete for NHL minutes with the Bruins out of the gate.

In fact, this appears to be a case of the Black and Gold going with the path of least resistance when it comes to their first cuts from the backend, with every waiver-eligible defender who’s ultimately bound for the AHL by the time the season starts remaining with the club at this point in camp.

The B’s backend probably has the least room for movement out of every position group on this roster, with Parker Wotherspoon expected to be Boston’s seventh defenseman after a strong finish to his 2023-24.

In goal, the Bruins assigned Ryan Bischel and Nolan Maier to Providence, while veteran Kasimir Kaskisuo was released from his pro tryout with the club but also assigned to the P-Bruins.
All three goaltenders failed to draw into action for the club prior to their respective cuts.

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