Vatrano was ‘good soldier’
BRUINS NOTEBOOK
TORONTO — Bruce Cassidy knows as well as anyone what Frank Vatrano can bring to a hockey team. Cassidy was behind the Providence bench when the East Longmeadow native scored 36 goals in 36 games for the Baby B’s in his first pro season.
But Vatrano never could duplicate that success at the NHL level, and Thursday, he was traded to the Florida Panthers for a third-round draft pick.
“Of all the people, I’ve probably had him the longest of anybody, so it’s disappointing for me as a coach when you’re developing players in Providence and then continuing to develop them up here,” Cassidy said yesterday. “It’s a winning league, and we are young and trying to fit those young guys in, and we couldn’t get him to be a regular here. But by the same token, you’ve got to look at the competition that outplayed him, the DeBrusks, the Heinens. I think opportunity was there. I think injuries set him back here and there, but at the end of the day, we thought those other guys were better, plain and simple.”
After signing as a free agent out of UMass in March 2015, the 23-yearold Vatrano impressed management at that summer’s development camp having lost the weight the team asked him to lose. His explosiveness in the AHL earned him call-ups to the B’s, and he scored in his first NHL game in Montreal.
Before the 2016-17 season, he was expected to get a shot on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, but he suffered a foot injury while working out before training camp. It kept him out until Christmas last season, and he never seemed to gain traction after that.
“He was a good soldier for us,” Cassidy said. “He worked hard and worked himself back to get his opportunity. We just ended up at the end of the day having better (players). I wish him all the success, not against us obviously, but as a person, I hope he does well. He’s still a young guy and has his whole career ahead of him.”
Matthews out
The Maple Leafs won’t be at full strength tonight against the B’s after superstar Auston Matthews was ruled out with a shoulder injury suffered in the comeback win against the Islanders on Thursday. Matthews had an MRI yesterday and a clearer indication of the severity of the injury is expected today.
Does that change the B’s preparation at all?
“It will a little bit in our pre-scout, but not much overall in the big picture,” Cassidy said. “I saw the hit, and I don’t know if he’s coming back or not, but for us, we play the lineup in front for us. We try to play and talk about the players that can hurt us, and he’s one of them. We just saw (Connor) McDavid, and I think we did a good job with him, checking him with layers. (Zdeno Chara) obviously did a good job, but our forwards did a good job funneling him to the outside where we could take better angles and have a better chance of killing a lot of those plays.” . . .
Cassidy said defenseman Kevan Miller, who missed the past nine games with an upper-body injury, will “probably” get back in the lineup tonight. Miller skated with Matt Grzelcyk in yesterday’s practice.
Cheering for gold
David Backes, a two-time Olympian for Team USA, watched the American women beat nemesis Canada for the gold medal.
“Gigi Marvin’s a Minnesota girl, and I think there were six of them that were together there at the last two Olympics, so there are a few familiar faces there,” Backes said. “It was almost a little emotional watching those girls and how much they put in, and they were so close so many times. I think everyone in the world was thinking, ‘Why are we using a shootout to decide this awesome game?’ When it works for you, you love it, and when it eliminates on the men’s side in the quarterfinals, you wonder what the heck’s going on.”
It was rough ride in South Korea for the Canadians, who saw their men’s team also get upset yesterday by Germany in the semifinal.
“It’s always tough,” center Patrice Bergeron said. “Obviously you cheer for your country, and that’s what we were all doing. I got up early to catch a little bit of the game, and it’s too bad. I think Germany played really well. There’s a part of me that’s happy for (Germany coach and former Bruin) Marco (Sturm) since he’s a friend of mine and I played with him for a long time. But that being said, it’s unfortunate, and I feel for the guys that are over there and battling