Full-Timer, Farmhand, Fan Favorite: Matt Poitras Took the Long Way Back
Picture being 18.
It's the fall of 2023. A year earlier you were the 54th name called at the draft, a second-rounder from Whitby, Ontario. You just finished a 95-point season in junior with the Guelph Storm.
Then you walk into a Bruins training camp and take a job nobody saved for you.
That's Matt Poitras.
Act I: The kid who wasn't supposed to be here yet
Bergeron was gone. Krejci was gone. Everybody in Boston wanted to know who would play center.
Part of the answer was a teenager.
He had five goals and 11 points in his first two months. Some nights he played more than 14 minutes, and at times he was in the top six. The Bruins started 14-1-3, and the kid was right in the middle of it.
I can only imagine what that felt like. It looked like a dream.
The shoulder
Then the dream started to crack.
He left to play for Canada at the World Juniors over the holidays, and he put up four points in five games. When he came back, his health was a question.
He played only six of Boston's 12 games in January. Three of those nights he played less than nine minutes.
On Feb. 7, 2024, he had surgery to stabilize his right shoulder. They call it a Latarjet. It meant about five months of recovery. Just like that, his rookie season was over at 33 games.
Don Sweeney's statement that day said it plainly:
"Our medical staff made the recommendation for Matt to proceed with the surgery rather than continue playing with an unstable shoulder and risking further damage."
Then came the line that mattered:
"Matt is just starting his Bruins career and is a key part of our future."
A key part of the future. That's a promise. Now he had to go earn it.
Act II: Providence
He was cleared in time for the next training camp. But getting cleared isn't the same as getting your spot back.
The next two years were a back-and-forth between Boston and Providence.
If you've followed the AHL, you know what that life is. Smaller rinks. Long trips. Watching the big club on TV and wondering when the phone will ring.
In 2024-25 he split the year almost down the middle: 33 games with Boston, 40 with Providence. Last season the big club got him for only three games. The other 69 were in Providence.
He didn't sulk. He produced. He had 41 points in those 40 AHL games, then 44 points in the 69. The Globe put it well: he came out of those two years having gained "muscle and perspective."
Then came this summer, maybe the hardest stretch of all.
He was a restricted free agent, waiting on an offer from the Bruins. The weeks went by.
"It was not easy," Poitras said. "Just having the whole summer go by and signing so late just before camp."
He finally signed on the eve of camp. He came in with one thing on his mind.
"I just wanted to come in and try and earn a spot. And then I feel like I was playing well, then I got hurt."
A lower-body injury, on Sept. 22. It wasn't serious, but the timing was cruel. It was a short camp and he got into only one preseason game.
"So that sucked," he said, "and just the uncertainty after that, just waiting and seeing. I couldn't really do anything because just trying to get healthy."
Just waiting and seeing. After everything, he had to wait again.
Act III: Earned
On Oct. 5, the Bruins activated him.
He took the fourth-line center job from Sean Kuraly, between Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic. It's a grinding role, and he'd be the first to tell you it's nothing like what he's used to.
"I've never really played a role like this ever in hockey," he said. "It's just something new, just taking it day-by-day, and just trying to do the simple things right."
Doing the simple things right. Look at what's happened since.
He scored in San Jose. He scored in Anaheim. He scored in Dallas. He has a point in five straight games. Through eight games he has four goals, already one short of his whole rookie season, and he's a plus-6.
Is it early? Sure. Will he keep scoring on a third of his shots? Probably not.
That's not really the point, though.
The point is the 18-year-old who had a dream season, the 19-year-old whose shoulder gave out and the 21-year-old in Providence waiting for a call. Now he's 22, and he's the guy who takes somebody else's job.
And here's the stat that stops you.
In the 77 regular-season NHL games Matt Poitras has played, the Bruins are 42-20-15. That's a .643 points percentage, and they're 6-2 this season.
Among the 18 current Bruins with at least 20 games for Boston, leaving out that record-setting 2022-23 season, only five have a better team record in their games. His is ahead of David Pastrnak's (.623) and Pavel Zacha's (.585), and just behind Charlie McAvoy's (.651).
One player doesn't decide a record. But the kid they sent down is in the lineup, and the Bruins keep winning.
"It's all behind me now," he said.
It is, Matty. Welcome home. 馃惢