Given his disappointing 2016-17 season, there was some doubt as to whether or not Ryan Spooner would return to Boston for another season.

In arguably the worst year of his short career in Boston, Spooner struggled with consistency throughout his 16-17 campaign.

The move to left wing at the beginning of the year under Claude Julien didn’t help.

Perhaps the coaching change in early February from Julien to Bruce Cassidy would’ve paid dividends. It didn’t.

The speed might have been there but his production took a hit from the year before. Spooner went from 49 points in 2015-16 to 39 points last year. His struggles at the faceoff circle and as a three-zone player only added to the misery, which was topped off with watching Games 5 and 6 of the Senators series in the press box.

Spooner’s power play production, on the other hand, improved from 17 points on the man advantage to 18. His play on the half-wall on the top unit – along with Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak and Torey Krug – sparked the Bruins’ seventh-ranked power play unit last season.

When the decision came on who to protect in the Expansion Draft, the Bruins opted to keep Spooner away from Vegas’ pickings. They followed up a month later by avoiding arbitration and agreeing to a one-year contract worth $2.825 million.

In arguably a make or break year, Spooner is making the most out of the situation during the first week-plus of training camp. Engaging in battles – whether it’s physical or other areas of assertiveness – is a must if he wants to stay beyond this upcoming season. Through his first few games of preseason hockey, he’s done exactly that.

Case in point, Monday’s preseason TD Garden finale against the Blackhawks. His open ice hit on Tanner Kero paved way for Pastrnak’s first of the preseason just 52 seconds in during the B’s 4-2 triumph.

“Yeah, it’s something that we’ve talked about, and it’s always good to get that kind of result,” Spooner said about the events leading up to Pastrnak’s first goal since signing his new six-year, $40 million contract.

Spooner may never lead the team in hits. In fact, seeing Spooner finish a game with two hits like he did on Monday – tied for second-most on the team – is pretty rare in and of itself.

The idea isn’t so much for Spooner to be more physical, but rather be more of a 200-foot player and stay engaged in the play. That can stem anywhere throwing an extra hit to improving his performance at the faceoff circle.

Even if the stats aren’t there, staying assertive can go a long way for Spooner.

“Yeah, he was a crusher on that one. Buried a guy,” Bruce Cassidy said about Spooner’s hit on Kero that led to Pastrnak’s tally.

“I don’t know if physicality is the proper term. What I want to see is compete,” the Bruins bench boss added. “We’ve talked about that. I don’t expect Ryan Spooner to lead our team in hits. But he has to win his share of pucks. How you do that, hard on your stick, sometimes it is body position, sometimes it is knocking a guy off the puck. It was good to see, and it led directly to – we come back up the ice, he makes a play, [Matt] Beleskey passes it and we score a goal. Then the third period, specifically, put him out for a D-zone faceoff and he won one, he won maybe both. Just some situations that he knows he has to be harder in, I think the rest of his game will take care of itself, but I thought he was good in that area of the game tonight.”

With prospects like Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson and Jesse Gabrielle itching to get spots on the Bruins’ bottom six, Spooner has held his ground. Barring injury, Spooner will be back at his third line center spot come opening night with Matt Beleskey and Frank Vatrano as his likely wings.

Spooner and the Bruins have two more preseason games left – both on the road in Philadelphia (Thursday) and Chicago (Saturday).

“I think the thing for me right now is to just try to take it game by game,” Spooner said. “Just trying to do that and see how it goes for me.”

So far, they’ve been going well