With an off day scheduled for Sunday, Saturday at Warrior Ice Arena marked one of the last days for the Bruins to get a look at the players remaining in their camp before rosters are due on Monday afternoon.

And after six preseason games over and done with, the Bruins may have seen enough when it comes to having a rough idea of what their Opening Night roster is going to look like. But Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery stressed on both Thursday and Friday that training camp was not over, and that the Bruins were looking forward to seeing how some guys looked once the club got down to one big group, and held a scrimmage Saturday morning.

But Saturday also came with some more waiver activity for Don Sweeney & Co., with three players hitting the waiver wire after their absences were certainly noted at the spirited session in Brighton.

“When you’re delivering news that you know isn’t what they’re hoping to hear, it doesn’t matter what your business or what the situation calls for, it’s hard. And today’s a hard day,” Montgomery said following Saturday’s session. “It just is. Everybody’s aware and everybody knows you gotta get down to a number at a certain point. That’s why I didn’t particularly love practice [today], but human nature comes into effect.”

The biggest news on the waiver wire as it relates to the Bruins is the placing of defenseman and 2015 first-round pick Jakub Zboril on waivers.

The No. 13 overall pick in 2015, Zboril has played a total of 76 NHL games with the Bruins over four seasons, and is coming off a 2022-23 season that featured one goal, four points, and 31 hits in 22 games played. Zboril’s 2022-23 campaign also featured extremely prolonged stretches as a scratch for Montgomery’s loaded B’s squad, with Zboril appearing in just three games from U.S. Thanksgiving to Mar. 19 last season.

In training camp looking to keep a strong grip on his status as the No. 7 defenseman, the 26-year-old Zboril battled an injury, and appeared in just two games this preseason, and recorded one assist with two blocked shots and six hits in over 34 minutes of action over that stretch.

When it came to winning a job in camp, Zboril was almost certainly hurt by the strong push from 2023 offseason addition Ian Mitchell, as well as his own cap hit, which checks in at a hefty (for his role, anyway) $1.137 million for 2023-24. (Mitchell, in case you’re wondering, makes the league minimum.)

With Zboril on waivers, the Bruins are down to just eight defensemen on their training camp roster.

That group includes Mitchell, Mason Lohrei, Kevin Shattenkirk, Brandon Carlo, Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort, Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie McAvoy.

Up front, the Bruins placed Oskar Steen on waivers for the second training camp in a row.

And similar to last year, Steen had a strong start and scored in his preseason debut, but failed to elevated beyond that strong start and seemed to fall out of frame camp progressed. Overall, the 5-foot-10 Steen finished the preseason with one goal on nine shots in two preseason appearances.

Steen, a sixth-round pick of the Bruins back in 2016, recorded one goal in three NHL appearances with Boston last year, and has totaled three goals and seven points in 26 NHL games since 2021. Steen also recorded 14 goals and 31 points in 64 games with the P-Bruins last year, and has scored 41 goals and 100 points in 196 career games in the AHL.

In addition to Steen and Zboril, the Bruins also placed versatile forward Jesper Boqvist on waivers.

Signed to a league-minimum contract back in July, Boqvist hits the waiver wire following a training camp and preseason run that included eight shots, one takeaway, four hits, and three wins in five battles at the dot over three games. What the Bruins liked about Boqvist, who scored 10 goals and 21 points in 70 games with the Devils last season, was his ability to play up and down the lineup and play multiple positions. But you could argue that that almost hurt him this camp, with all parties involved trying to get a read on the other.

“It’s always hard [for] anybody that comes in new,” Montgomery admitted. “You’re trying to acclimate, you’re trying to understand how we want to play. And almost every player wants to do what you’re asking them. So they’re trying to assimilate to that. They’re also trying to find their way in a new city, they got a bunch of new teammates, they’re trying to find their comfort zone everywhere off the ice and then they’re trying to find their comfort zone on the ice. And it’s a real short time in the month of September before we start for real.”

Boqvist, a second-round pick in 2017, has recorded 28 goals and 55 points in 189 NHL games over four seasons.

And with Boqvist and Steen the latest cuts from Boston’s NHL camp, the Bruins have 15 forwards currently still in their NHL camp, and with the magic number appearing to be 13 based on their current cap situation.

That group of 15 right now includes A.J. Greer, Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle, Milan Lucic, Pavel Zacha, Johnny Beecher, James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Brown, Morgan Geekie, Danton Heinen (on a pro tryout), Matt Poitras, Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, David Pastrnak, and Jakub Lauko.

The Bruins will have Sunday off before holding Media Day and practice at TD Garden on Monday morning, and with rosters requiring finalization by 5 p.m. that day.

Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. He has been covering the Bruins since 2010, and has been a member of the Boston chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, HockeyBuzz.com or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter/X: @_TyAnderson.

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