Frederic Embracing His Role with B's

NEWARK - Growing up, Trent Frederic was never able to fully embrace the role of an antagonist. During his youth hockey days, and even through his college career at Wisconsin, a helmet cage made it difficult for the forward to fully engage with his opponents.
That changed, of course, when he turned professional with the Providence Bruins in the spring of 2018.
Without a cage limiting him, Frederic was able to take on more of a rough-and-tumble role, which included dropping the gloves. The 6-foot-2, 203-pound St. Louis native has 14 fights on his resume at the AHL level over the past three seasons - and one very memorable bout with the big club.

Frederic had the TD Garden crowd buzzing during his NHL debut in January 2019 when he tangled with Winnipeg's Brandon Tanev. It was a one-sided bout, featuring a bevy of heavy rights from the then 20-year-old Frederic.
Now, some two years later, Frederic is all in when it comes to providing a spark for his Black & Gold teammates. That much has been clear over the Bruins' first two games as he settles in to a fourth-line left wing role alongside Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner.
"It's kind of hard growing up with a cage on, not really much to do. You can stick up for your teammates in a certain way, but it's hard to do that even at the college level or junior level when you wear a cage," Frederic explained following the Bruins' Sunday afternoon practice at the Prudential Center.
"I think I've been doing that as a pro and developed that into my game. Each year, I've tried to get better at it and it's come more natural. I think I did it pretty well last year. We played a lot of the same teams in Providence last year in the schedule.
"Hopefully this year's it's the same, and all these teams we play about eight times will get to know me."

The New Jersey Devils, and veteran blue liner P.K. Subban, certainly got their taste of the youngster during the teams' season-opening two-game set in Newark. After a relatively quiet opener, Frederic made a clear impact during the Bruins' 2-1 overtime setback on Saturday afternoon when he mixed it up with Subban on two different occasions.
Frederic appeared to challenge Subban to a fight earlier in the afternoon, before drawing a retaliatory holding call on the clearly agitated blue liner behind the Devils' net in the opening minute of the third period.
"I think maybe the first game we had some battles; he didn't like a time I finished [a check on] him. It was nothing crazy. We had some exchanges, but nothing came of it," said Frederic. "It just happened to work out that me and Subban had some talking and maybe he found not to like me, and he took that penalty.
"Hopefully I can keep doing stuff like that, it's something small. Feel like I kind of won that battle between me and him given that he took a stupid penalty."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy has been impressed with Frederic since the 22-year-old left shot arrived for training camp sporting a larger and more toned frame, as well as an improvement in his already heavy shot.
"I thought he was excellent in camp, consistent, moving better," said Cassidy.
Despite those advancements in his game, Frederic - a natural centerman - was not guaranteed a spot in the Opening Night lineup. But when Craig Smith turned out to be a late scratch with a lower-body injury, Frederic got the call for the opener and fit in well with Kuraly and Wagner on the fourth line.
Cassidy liked enough of what he saw to keep the trio together for Saturday's matinee and was even more pleased with what he got from the former first-round pick.
"He was better in the second game than the first. We like that," said Cassidy. "Be consistent, get a little better. He's understanding he can get under people's skin, use his body, his physicality, his abrasiveness…puck protection down low, drew a penalty against Subban, got him agitated.
"These are the things [he] can bring...hopefully he doesn't get away from that style of play because that's what's gonna get him his foot in the door and in the lineup every night and he can grow from there."

Frederic also showed a flash of his offensive skill, as he nearly put the Bruins on top in the closing minutes of the third period with a point-blank chance from the slot that was turned away by Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
"Thought he got a great shot off in the slot that easily could have won us the game late in the third," said Cassidy. "It was quick release, something we're asking him to do - get the puck to the net in a hurry, don't overthink it. Good to see that."

Shuffling the Deck

Elsewhere on the Bruins' wings, injuries and a lack of even strength offense to start the season are forcing Cassidy to shuffle the deck. Already missing David Pastrnak as he continues his recovery from offseason hip surgery, the Bruins are likely to be without fellow Czech winger Ondrej Kase on Monday afternoon against the New York Islanders after the 25-year-old left Saturday's overtime loss with an upper-body injury.
Kase, who took a hit up high from Devils forward Miles Wood, and new winger Craig Smith did not practice on Sunday afternoon in Newark. Smith, fresh off his Bruins debut on Saturday, took a maintenance day as he deals with the lingering lower-body injury that kept him sidelined on Opening Night.
"We'll re-assess [on Monday]. I would say doubtful [for Kase]," said Cassidy. "Smitty was a little bit of a lingering lower-body issue. He should play [on Monday]. His was more of a maintenance day, try to get him a game [Monday], day off Tuesday, get him over the hump with a little rest."
With Pastrnak already out, and Kase and Smith having missed time over the first two games, Cassidy has had to get creative on the right side. So far, Charlie Coyle, Jack Studnicka, Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk, and even David Krejci have seen time on the top line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
"We've been through it over the years, maybe not quite to this extent where we're talking about one, two, and three guys…we have some options," said Cassidy, who acknowledged that moving Krejci up to the top line was about trying to spark the offense and win a game more than anything.
"It's tough when you're moving around guys all the time. But that's the hand we're dealt. This is where you really miss exhibition games to see when you have some new players, how it goes.
"The guys that are out, Kase and Smith, we were trying to find the best homes for them. We knew where Pasta fit, we knew where Wags fit. But now it's a bigger challenge."

During Sunday's practice, it was DeBrusk that got the call to skate with Marchand and Bergeron, while Studnicka and Nick Ritchie flanked Krejci. Charlie Coyle had Bjork and Greg McKegg on his wings for the skate.
"Someone has to go to their off side," Cassidy said of DeBrusk playing right wing. "We'll look at that [on Monday], maybe that will spark him, an opportunity to play up there. We had Jack up there. We thought it would be a big ask, we knew that. We'd see how it would go. He'll go in with Krejci and Ritchie if Kase can't go.
"If Smith is in, he'll go with Coyle and Bjork. Coyle and Bjork have played together. We're trying to get Coyle and Smith some chemistry and leave the fourth line together if that's our health situation. That's how we'll look at it, that's what we did today."

Sunday's Practice Lineup

FORWARDS
Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Jake DeBrusk
Nick Ritchie - David Krejci - Jack Studnicka
Anders Bjork - Charlie Coyle - Greg McKegg
Trent Frederic - Sean Kuraly - Chris Wagner
Par Lindholm
DEFENSEMEN
Jeremy Lauzon - Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk - Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril - Kevan Miller
John Moore/Urho Vaakanainen - Connor Clifton
GOALIES
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Daniel Vladar