Bruins trim camp roster with five on waivers, four sent to Providence

The Boston Bruins trimmed their training camp roster Friday as the NHL’s roster deadline approached, placing five players on waivers and assigning four others to the AHL Providence Bruins. The moves come with the regular season less than a week away and leave Boston continuing to sort its depth ahead of Opening Night on Oct. 8 in Washington.

The club placed Patrick Brown, Michael Callahan, Georgii Merkulov, Victor Soderstrom and Riley Tufte on waivers in hopes of sending them to Providence if unclaimed. Frederic Brunet, Riley Duran, Brett Harrison and Fabian Lysell were reassigned directly to Providence, as they did not require waivers. The Bruins did not acquire or lose any players via waivers by the Monday deadline; the players Boston exposed cleared and are expected to report to Providence.

One notable outcome was forward Matej Blumel, who entered camp widely regarded as a strong candidate to earn an NHL roster spot after signing a one year, $875,000 contract in the offseason. Blumel skated in top-six shifts in camp and took reps on the second power-play unit, and some observers viewed him as a likely opening-night roster player. Instead, he cleared waivers and will join...