The Boston Bruins are already in playoff preparation mode, which requires taking a look at the bottom of the roster.

BOSTON – Entering the 2023-24 season, the biggest conversation surrounding the Boston Bruins’ training camp was which players would earn bottom six roles.

Six months later, the topic is creeping back into focus as the Bruins are gearing up for the playoffs, with a few notable changes.

The top nine forward spots are more or less solidified, barring injury. Recently, it’s looked like this with a few tweaks here and there:

Brad Marchand - Charlie Coyle - Jake DeBrusk

Danton Heinen - Pavel Zacha - David Pastrnak

James van Riemsdyk - Morgan Geekie - Trent Frederic

This means the remaining forwards – Jakub Lauko, Jesper Boqvist and Justin Brazeau – are left competing for the fourth line spots. Those three have held down their positions over the past few weeks, but Bruins coach Jim Montgomery will exhaust every combination before locking in the preferred playoff lineup.

“I can have a vision [for the fourth line], but what you always realize as a coach is on paper, things look great, but you got to see it on the ice,” Montgomery said on Tuesday. “You got to see the chemistry, so who do players play well with together?”

Pat Maroon was acquired at the trade deadline, and his size and playoff experience make him a near-lock for a spot assuming he recovers from his disc surgery in time for the postseason.

Johnny Beecher also did well in his first game back with the Bruins in two months. The 22-year-old forward won 8-of-11 face-offs (72.7%) and played valuable penalty kill minutes against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. Montgomery even trusted Beecher to take the opening face-off in overtime, and even though he lost, the Bruins wound up scoring 24 seconds into overtime to secure the 2-1 win.

“It gives me a ton of confidence. Seeing that they have that trust in me going forward is massive,” Beecher told reporters in Montreal on Thursday. “Face-offs are a huge part of my game and how I’m going to be able to help my team win down the stretch, and I felt that I was able to do a pretty good job inside the dot today. Just gotta build on it and keep going.”

Even in losing efforts, the fourth line has stepped up. Boqvist, Lauko and Brazeau were the only bright spots on Monday’s 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. As a line, they outshot the Blues 6-0 at 5-on-5 and had a 90.91 Corsi For Percentage (10-1), according to Natural Stat Trick.

“I feel like we bring different stuff to the line and everyone wants to play fast and quick,” Boqvist said. “Last time we were really connected and created some chances and we got to capitalize too.”

Boqvist, who started the season in AHL Providence before eventually replacing Beecher as the every-day fourth line center, has especially grown over the course of the season. He has more NHL experience than Beecher and displays a better scoring touch, but he's struggled mightily on the face-off dot with a 36.9 win percentage.

Montgomery acknowledged it as an area of improvement for Boqvist, who is working with assistant coach Chris Kelly, but he also talked about the good things Boqvist is bringing to the table.

“When the puck’s lose, he wants the puck,” Montgomery said. “He’s carrying it with authority, he’s taking it through the neutral zone with speed into the offensive zone. He’s making good decisions, putting it in when he can’t carry it in and going in hard on the forecheck, coming up with loose puck battles and protecting the puck. He’s doing a lot of really good things for us.”

The remaining 14 games will serve as a significant test for the bottom of the roster. All the fringe forwards will be options when the postseason comes around. Now it’s up to Montgomery to determine the best possible combination.

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