The Boston Bruins have officially loaned center Matthew Poitras to Hockey Canada to compete in the 2024 World Junior Championship (WJC). Poitras has had a remarkable few months to start the season and went from a hopeful to make Team Canada’s roster in September to having no chance because of the impact he was having in Boston, to now being in a place where a chance to play a big role and score some points is what the Bruins organization has deemed best for the 19-year-old’s development.
Poitras is on his way to the tournament’s host city of Gothenburg, Sweden where he will join a Canadian team that had purposefully left one of the forward spots blank in case an NHL team loaned a player with Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Zach Benson being the other players who the empty spot could have been filled by.
So what has led Poitras to this point and what might his addition mean to this year’s Team Canada? Let’s take a closer look.
Poitras’ Precocious Performance
After competing in his second development camp as a member of the Boston Bruins organization last Summer, Poitras was told by management that he could expect to play in at least one preseason game following the team’s training camp in September. He had finished the prior season on a remarkable heater and totaled 95 points in just 63 OHL games. Needless to say, the Bruins were intrigued.
Related: Guide to the 2024 World Junior Championship
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He continued to surprise people and surpass expectations at training camp, earning himself much more than a single preseason game, eventually working his way into the opening night lineup, as a middle-six center no less. Obviously the Bruins’ lack of center depth has played a major role there, with the synchronized retirements of David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, but Poitras wasn’t simply handed this spot in the lineup.
Poitras got off to a hot start in the NHL, with several goals through the season’s early weeks, and while his production has since slowed down a bit, 13 points in 27 games is no joke for a 19-year-old in the NHL. He has sat out a few games recently and been benched for an entire third period another time, but that is simply a part of adjusting to the NHL pace and lifestyle.
I think the most likely situation is that Poitras will return to the Bruins following this tournament, since he…
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