Bruins Must Fill Four Forward Spots During Training Camp, GM Says

BOSTON — The Bruins began training camp Thursday at TD Garden with more roster vacancies than in year’s past after veterans Jarome Iginla and Shawn Thornton departed in free agency.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said Thursday that four forward spots are up for grabs during camp. With top-six winger Reilly Smith and offensive defenseman Torey Krug unsigned and not yet in camp, there will be lots of opportunities for veterans and young players to impress the coaching staff.

The B’s GM is excited to watch the competition unfold with so many jobs at stake.

“I’m very eager to see the competition,” Chiarelli said. “If I have to open with eight (D-men), I can. There’s no real pressing need to do it other than it’s not ideal. The way I count now, there are four forward spots open for filling. There’s obviously more than nine defensemen — not counting Torey, there’s eight — for seven spots ideally, but I could carry eight.

“The competition, with it comes uncertainty. We’d all like things to be certain, but the cream will rise to the top. I’m looking forward to it. On a smaller level, we had competition last year for a couple forward spots and we did OK. We’ve got some invites, we’ve got some young players pushing. I look forward to it. We’ve got seven (preseason) games, not counting our intrasquad.”

The open spots likely are first-line right wing, one or two third-line wingers and fourth-line right wing. If Smith remains unsigned for a while, his top-six role will need to be filled.

Chiarelli said 2014 first-round draft pick David Pastrnak will play on the wing during camp after seeing a lot of ice time at center throughout the rookie tournament last week. Veteran tryout invitees Simon Gagne and Ville Leino also are likely to begin camp practices at right wing, according to the GM. The Bruins are pretty set down the middle with David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Carl Soderberg, Chris Kelly and Gregory Campbell signed.

There aren’t too many top-six spots available on the blue line. A group of players including Kevan Miller, David Warsofsky, Adam McQuaid, Matt Bartkowski and Steve Eminger will compete for third-pairing and/or sixth/seventh D-man roster spots over the next couple of weeks.

Chiarelli noted that Warsofsky is “a player to watch” during camp and the preseason. Similar to Krug, Warsofsky is an offensive-minded defenseman who skates really well.

Read more about position battles in B’s training camp >>

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