The Boston Bruins will have to decide what to do with forward Ryan Spooner.
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The Boston Bruins made a reasonably big move in free agency this summer. They were able to pick up David Backes from free agency. While the Boston Bruins currently have Backes listed as a winger, his veteran presence at center could push the 24-year old Spooner to the wing this year.
Spooner was a solid player for the Black and Gold last year. He had a 49 point (13 goals) season in Boston last year, good enough for fourth in overall scoring for the team.
He’s had hot streaks where his creativity with the puck earned him points, and Claude Julien rewarded him by putting him on the B’s second power play unit. He ended up earning 17 of his 49 points last season on special teams.
Spooner has also had some issues last season. He had trouble in transition from offense to defense. Claude Julien even called Spooner out be name once last season calling his defensive work terrible. Spooner also won less than half of his faceoffs last year(42.8%). That’s a troubling statistic for someone who wants to play at center.
Claude Julien flew in from Toronto to help open the camp yesterday, and he made the decision to keep Spooner at center for the time being.
“There’s a lot that can happen in this training camp,” shared Julien with the assembled media. “We’ll see how (Spooner) does at center. We’ve still got him at center right now. There’s no doubt you have that option of Backes being that strong third-line centerman, but at the same time, you still have the option of a strong winger on your top two lines. But I think there’s a lot of things right now, we’ve looked all the different scenarios, and we’re going to let it play out in training camp and hopefully have a clear picture to start.”
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Ryan Spooner has always appreciated what Claude Julien has done for him during his career with the Black and Gold. He certainly appreciates the fact that Julien has him starting camp as a center, but he knows there is no guarantee he’ll keep that spot for opening night.
“We talked at the end of the year, and (Julien) basically said that at times, I was playing well there, and at times he had to shelter me because I guess I wasn’t doing the job,” offered Spooner on Thursday after the Bruins completed their on-ice testing. “It’s definitely a challenge for me, and I’m excited for it, for sure.”
Spooner also commented on Backes, who is finishing out the World Cup of Hockey tournament with Team USA.
“This is sport,” Spooner said. “At the end of the day, if he’s going to take my spot, I’ll have to play wing. There’s nothing I can do about that. He’s good on the wing, he’s good at center, and I’ll guess we’ll see what happens with that.”
It’s too early to say if he’s still considered a ‘defensive liability’, but if Claude Julien is retooling his system to be more offensively minded, then Spooner should be fine this season.
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