Boston rookie center Matt Poitras will get the chance to represent Team Canada at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Sweden after the Bruins approved the move. He could miss up to nine games for Boston. Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Rookie Matt Poitras is leaving the Bruins for about three weeks to play for Team Canada in the IIHF World Junior Championships in Sweden, the team announced Monday.
Poitras, 19, has five goals and eight assists in 27 games with Boston this season. Team Canada held a spot for Poitras on its roster while the rest of its team had been decided. He’s expected to join Team Canada in Sweden on Tuesday.
Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery said last week that Hockey Canada, the country’s governing body for national teams, had approached Don Sweeney about Boston potentially loaning Poitras to Team Canada but had no announcement. The team then made it official Monday.
“There’s really no downside. He’ll be a leader on that team,” Sweeney said. “We’re excited for Matty. He’ll represent himself, his family and the Boston Bruins really well.”
The annual tournament begins Dec. 26 in Gothenburg, Sweden. The event runs until Jan. 5. Depending on how long Canada remains alive in the event, he could miss up to nine Bruins games.
Poitras has hit a bit of a rut at this point in the season. Montgomery’s leash has been shorter with him and he’s sat him for long stretches late in games.
Poitras sat out his second game in eight days on Friday against the Islanders.
Playing in the World Juniors could do a couple of things. It would allow him to play against opponents his own age. Unlike in Boston where his chances to play in pivotal spots have grown scarcer, he would likely be thrust into crucial situations for Team Canada.
BOSTON’S TRENT Frederic said he’ll have to fight Jacob Trouba nine more times before things are even between them after the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime loss to the Rangers.
The Rangers’ defenseman hit the Bruins’ forward in the head with his stick when the teams played Nov. 25 in New York.
“I can never hit him hard enough as he hit me,” Frederic said. “I’d have to fight him 10 times to do that.”
Does that mean there will be nine more fights between them?
“I would do it,” he said. “You can’t hit someone as hard with a fist as you can with a hockey stick. But you can try.”
Trouba was fined $5,000 for the play that didn’t earn a penalty in the game. But none of that cash goes to Frederic, who sought his own restitution and retribution. Trouba declined to fight Frederic early in the game but agreed to square off in the second period with each team down a man already.
“I tried right off the get-go, but in the four-on-four situation he brought it back up,” Frederic said.
Frederic scored a quick knockout, driving Trouba to the ground.
SENATORS: Ottawa fired Coach D.J. Smith, replacing him on an interim basis with Jacques Martin, and adding Hall of Famer and former captain Daniel Alfredsson to the staff as an assistant.
It’s the latest shakeup for the NHL team in Canada’s capital city in the three months since owner Michael Andlauer took over. Andlauer quickly hired Steve Staios as president of hockey operations, and on Nov. 1 fired longtime general manager Pierre Dorion following a league investigation that caused the Senators to forfeit a first-round draft pick.
Staios, now also interim GM, fired Smith 12 days after hiring Martin as senior adviser, which put the 71-year-old coaching veteran as an eye in the sky. Staios said at the time he consulted with Smith on the decision.
The Senators have since lost 5 of 6 games to fall into last place in the Eastern Conference. Only the Chicago Blackhawks have fewer points than Ottawa’s 22.
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