Wing or center? Providence or Boston? What lies ahead for Matthew Poitras

At this time last year, Matthew Poitras knew he’d travel down one of two paths.

The Bruins entered their 2023 training camp looking to fill the immense voids left by Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. To help the transition from the Bergeron and Krejci era, the Bruins promoted Charlie Coyle to the second line next to Brad Marchand and moved Pavel Zacha from wing to his natural center position next to David Pastrnak.

Even with an opportunity awaiting, Poitras entered his first training camp on the outside looking in of a potential opening night roster spot. Over the next three weeks, Poitras impressed the Bruins’ brass with his competitiveness and offensive upside to force their hand.

At 19, Poitras still wasn’t eligible to play in Providence. But after his impressive camp, the Bruins didn’t return Poitras to his junior club in Guelph (OHL), instead keeping him in Boston.

Poitras showcased initial strides in the first month of his rookie season before hitting a bit of a wall. He hardly had a chance to overcome that first professional rut. After a stint representing his fellow Canadian countrymen in the World Junior championships, Poitras appeared in four more games in Boston before going under the knife for season-ending surgery on his right shoulder in February.

After his recovery, Poitras got a head start on his off-season conditioning.

The now 20-year-old forward used that time wisely, gaining 10 pounds of muscle to better absorb the wear and tear from board battles and net-front traffic.

Poitras felt the added weight didn’t slow him down once his skating habits returned.

“It was a really long summer for me. I had three months at the end of the season where I was lifting and not really skating. So for me, it was just putting more weight on and lifting and not having to worry about the hockey part,” Poitras said. “And then, as the summer went on, I was trying to get as many reps with the puck as possible. When you don’t skate for three months, some of that stuff goes away a bit.

“I definitely feel stronger. It’s not to the point where I added weight and kind of slowed down. I’m kind of the same speed, if not a little bit faster. So, my game is gonna be the same, where the little extra weight might help with me in the extra corner battle situations — and if I’m playing center, it’s just about holding onto pucks against bigger, faster and stronger guys.”

Poitras, who notched 10 points in 33 games, mainly in a middle-six role, put his extended off-season to use during the first day of his second training camp.

Skating with Trent Frederic and veteran Cole Koepke, the Ajax, Ontario native moved from his natural center position to wing during the first of two on-ice sessions at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday.

Indeed, Poitras felt at home even after adjusting to a full-contact practice for the first time in nearly eight months.

“It was good to be back on the ice and in a practice environment,” Poitras said. “The pace was pretty high. Obviously, it might take a couple of days in that environment to get hit again, but it felt good to get hit a couple of times and have the puck on your stick again.”

The Bruins hope the benefits of Poitras’ added frame will complement his well-rounded skating and stick-handling traits. Still, a pair of decisions await: the locale and the position where Poitras will begin his second pro season.

Unlike the first year without Bergeron and Krejci, the Bruins enter the preseason with a bit of a logjam at center, with veterans Elias Lindholm and Tyler Johnson (on a PTO) joining Charlie Coyle, Morgan Geekie and Johnny Beecher, and Poitras. With Coyle and Lindholm solidifying the middle of the ice on Boston’s top six, Jim Montgomery and the coaching staff are considering moving Poitras back to wing.

The Bruins didn’t use Poitras at wing last season. But Poitras developed some experience occupying one of the two wing spots during his time in Guelph.

Poitras will encounter more opportunities at wing to create offense both in transition and within Boston’s attacking zone structure. At center, Poitras can show how he’s better adapted to handle the two-way responsibilities.

“He’s an offensively gifted player,” Montgomery said of Poitras. “You get to spend more time as a winger getting out into the neutral zone and creating offense than you do as a center, especially with the way we play. It requires the center to do a lot of work down low, and it takes away to extend your shifts and create offense.”

“We certainly think at some point that he’ll move back to center, whether it’s this year or at some point…the added strength and muscle, you can see that on pucks now. He had more separation from people, and he won more battles even today.”

Despite the upside, Poitras’ transition to wing might require a stint in Providence to begin the 2024-25 campaign. But like last year, the 5-foot-10, 185 lb. winger wants to provide yet another difficult roster decision for Montgomery, GM Don Sweeney and the rest of the Boston brass.

“I want to be here,” Poitras said. “And I want to be able to show that I belong here and that they don’t really have a choice — you’ve got to keep me here.”