5 under-the-radar players who could challenge for a Bruins roster spot

The Bruins opened their annual rookie camp Wednesday at Warrior Ice Arena ahead of the start of full-team training camp next Wednesday, signaling the start of organized team activities (to borrow a term from the NFL).

Top prospects Fabian Lysell and Georgii Merkulov were not in attendance, with Providence Bruins coach Ryan Mougenel telling reporters that he believes the organization would rather have them fully focus on regular training camp with both expected to compete for NHL roster spots.

Matt Poitras, Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei were all absent as well, having graduated out thanks to their extensive time spent in Boston last season.

There were still some prospects worth keeping an eye on, though, including Riley Duran, the Providence College alum and first-year pro whom general manager Don Sweeney named along with Lysell and Merkulov back in July as a young player he thinks will have an opportunity to make a push this preseason.

Plenty of eyes, including mine, will be on Lysell, Merkulov and even Duran when main camp opens next week, but some other candidates who could challenge for spots might be flying a little more under the radar.

With that in mind, here are five players who might have a shot at forcing their way onto the opening night roster. They’re all forwards, because let’s be honest: the Bruins simply have more uncertainty and openings up front than anywhere else.

John Farinacci

Look at just about any ranking of Bruins prospects and you’ll find Farinacci in the top five, maybe even top three. Most analysts believe he’ll play in the NHL at some point. Yet it doesn’t really seem like he gets the hype that at least a handful of other Boston prospects get.

Maybe that’s because he wasn’t a Bruins draft pick; he was originally a third-round pick of the team formerly known as the Arizona Coyotes in 2019, but didn’t sign with them and joined the Bruins as a free agent out of Harvard in 2023. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t have the size, speed or offensive ceiling of some other prospects.

What he does have is high hockey IQ, good two-way center play, and a promising first professional season under his belt, as Farinacci’s 38 points (12g, 26a) ranked fifth on the P-Bruins last year. That all points towards a future in a fourth-, maybe third-line role. At 23 years old, Farinacci could be ready to push now, even if the likes of Poitras, Beecher, Mark Kastelic and Justin Brazeau seemingly stand in his way.

“The first thing that stands out with John is how he thinks the game,” Mougenel said of Farinacci on Wednesday. “He's got an extremely high IQ. I think the season, as it wore on, he wore down a little bit, and that's to be expected, especially guys that come from college. That's a little bit of the common denominator. But he had an excellent first year. He was a go-to guy for us down the stretch. Like a lot of the guys that come into camp, they look like they're all in great shape and they're excited. … Looks like John had a real good summer, and I'm excited about his growth.”

Trevor Kuntar

Kuntar, who will be joining Duran and Farinacci at the Prospects Challenge in Buffalo this weekend, somewhat surprisingly made it through several rounds of cuts and into early October last preseason, despite having zero pro experience at that point.

With a full season in Providence now under his belt, and a better understanding of the Bruins’ system and the details it takes to be a pro, it would stand to reason that Kuntar could be ready to catch the eye of some Boston brass once again this September.

It’s not hard to see what the Bruins like about Kuntar. The Boston College product is physical, he’s constantly battling in the corner and in front of the net, he’s a pest, and he loves to shoot, ranking third on the P-Bruins with 146 shots on goal last season.

Now, they’d like to see more of those shots go in (he finished with 10 goals in 70 games), and Kuntar still needs to polish other parts of his game, but players who compete like he does are always going to catch a coach’s eye.

“For a guy like Kuntar, he’s going to make noise regardless,” Mougenel said while discussing the competition Kuntar faces for a roster spot. “Maybe it’s not right out of the gate, maybe it’s later in the season.”

Marc McLaughlin

It’s weird to think of McLaughlin as being “under the radar” at this point, but it doesn’t seem like there’s as much buzz around him as there has been the previous two training camps. That’s partly because he’s now 25, at which age you graduate out of “prospect” status in a lot of rankings, and partly because his offensive numbers in Providence last year just weren’t what he or the team was hoping for (14 points in 68 games, after 30 in 66 the year before).

That said, you also can’t ignore the fact that the North Billerica native and BC grad scored in his only NHL appearance last season and now has four goals in 14 career NHL games. It’s a small sample for sure, but it would also be a 23-goal pace over 82 games.

McLaughlin is a right shot who can play center or wing, similar to Farinacci in that respect. Right wing in particular is the least settled position on the roster. Could McLaughlin be ready to steal an NHL job that for a couple years has felt just barely out of reach?

“We had a good chat the other day, just about playing free,” Mougenel said of McLaughlin. “He squeezes the stick a little bit too hard in the American League at times, tries to do too much. Another guy that works extremely hard, almost too hard. But again, his numbers in the NHL are fantastic. He knows he can play there. He's just got to carve out a role for himself up here. And I think for Marc, he's a guy that could go up and we never see again, just because he's a guy that does everything well. Again, another guy that's been patient, been a great soldier, puts the time in, and you want to see him get rewarded. He's going to push for a job.”

Riley Tufte

Tufte is 6-foot-6, 230 pounds. (Can you even fit under the radar at that size?) He was a first-round pick back in 2016. He’s spent time in two great organizations in Dallas and Colorado, appearing in 18 NHL games between the two. And his offensive production, while not what was expected when he was younger, has steadily increased at the AHL level.

The way Sweeney spoke about Tufte after signing him on July 1, it sounds like he expects the 26-year-old winger to make a push.

“Riley Tufte has taken two strides, two years in a row, where he’s really taken off,” Sweeney said then. “I mean, this kid can skate, kills penalties.”

Size, speed, kills penalties. Plus he’ll occasionally drop the gloves. Sounds like a lot of stuff the Bruins will be looking for in potential fourth-liners, right?

Jeffrey Viel

Here’s a preseason prediction for you: Viel is going to drop the gloves in one of the first two games at TD Garden, take some wild swings, and instantly become a fan favorite. The 27-year-old left wing is a frequent fighter and possibly a madman, as evidenced by the AHL bout below from last October, or the fact that he fought Zdeno Chara on the night Chara broke the NHL record for career games played by a defenseman.

Now, will that alone win him a roster spot? Nope. It’s not the 1980s anymore. But Viel also has 49 games of NHL experience on his resume and some pretty solid AHL production (40 points in 69 games for the Manitoba Moose last season).

“Jeff Viel is going to bring a level of competitiveness and toughness that I think our players and organization respect,” Sweeney said after signing Viel on July 1.

Also, let’s remember that the Bruins open the regular season against the Florida Panthers, and might want to settle a score or two.