Bemstrom cleared waivers on Monday and was sent to the AHL to start the season. Bemstrom struggled to find his footing in the 2021-22 season, tallying just 11 points (6G / 5A) in 41 NHL games.
Grzelcyk's original timetable was set for mid-November, but the Bruins defenseman is ahead of schedule and expects to be back a couple of weeks earlier. Grzelcyk will likely take over as the quarterback on PP1 while Charlie McAvoy is sidelined.
Grzelcyk had a procedure on his right shoulder in early June and had an expected recovery time of five months. Expect Hampus Lindholm to quarterback the Bruins' No.1 PP unit while Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy are sidelined to open the season.
The Penguins selected Pickering with the No.21 overall pick in this summer's NHL Draft. The 18-year-old blue liner had nine goals with 24 assists (33 points) in 62 games with the Swift Current Broncos (WHL).
Malkin has spent his entire 16-year career in Pittsburgh, totalling 1146 points (444G / 702A) in 981 games. At 36 years old, Malkin is still one of the NHL's best points-per-game players but injuries remain a huge issue for the Russian centre. In the last three seasons, Malkin has missed a combined 78 games (37.7% of the games) but was 17th in the NHL in points-per-game (1.12) over that span.
Shea was a fourth-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2015 and signed with the Stars in 2020. He spent the last two seasons in Texas (AHL), where he had three goals and 35 assists (38 points) in 93 games combined.
Rakell has been sidelined since Game 1 of the series but is on the ice for warmups ahead of Game 7 and is expected to play.
