Matthew Poitras has been a surprise breakout for the Boston Bruins

Matthew Poitras may be one of the most valuable players on this year’s Boston Bruins team. While his three goals and two assists don’t quite stack up with David Pastrnak, the fact that he’s been able to help their center depth by taking on a top six role and excelling in those minutes in his rookie season is what’s allowed the Bruins to be undefeated in regulation despite the losses of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.

Daily Faceoff’s prospect expert Steven Ellis joined Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk to talk about Poitras and what kind of future he may have with the Bruins.

Steven Ellis: I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Look at last year, and he just exploded with 79 assists. He had one of the best seasons of anyone in the OHL last year, and I did pick him to be the top scorer in the OHL this year. I think that one’s not going to work out.

When it comes to him, he’s a guy that in his early days in the U-16 level, things like that, he was a good scorer, solid defensively, a decent playmaker, but he’s really turned up that playmaking side and we saw those numbers.

I think the big thing for me was it just was just seeing how he could handle the physical side of games, but also just getting him to shoot more. Last year in Guelph, I didn’t feel like he shot enough, and that’s why you look at the stat line, and he had 79 assists and 16 goals. It looked a little silly, but I think that right now we’re just seeing a guy who’s playing with confidence.

That could have fallen apart though. He had a great preseason, but then it took him a while in this regular season to really get to the level that we knew he could be. We saw his ice time drop a little bit, but the last few games, he’s been playing really good, he’s been getting those opportunities. Selfishly I want him to be on Team Canada for the World Juniors, I think that would have been a good opportunity for him, but again, talking to scouts, even at the start of preseason, most never saw this happening, so it’s been cool to see.

Frank Seravalli: So what is the ceiling when it comes to Poitras? Can he be that next franchise #1 center, or are we talking about a guy that obviously might take some time to get there, but is he lower down the lineup? Where is he going to end up?

Steven Ellis: I don’t think he’s a long term #1, I think that he’s a #2 that can work with a skilled player. You need to pair him with a guy who’s going to shoot a lot more, I think that’s the key thing. If you can make him that guy that can be the reliable two-way center but be the set-up man, I think as a #2 center because I just don’t see him getting first line numbers in the NHL. He’s not Patrice Bergeron’s official replacement.

But again, I think what we’ve seen in his development just in the last year alone says that the ceiling is quite high, I’m just being careful in saying this is a first line center. I don’t know if that is going to happen.

You can watch the full episode here…