Bruins Place Matthew Poitras On Injured Reserve

The Bruins announced today, along with their final round of roster cuts, that center Matthew Poitras will start the season on injured reserve, retroactive to Sep. 22. He’s been dealing with a lower-body injury. Aside from defenseman Henri Jokiharju’s pending waiver clearance, their roster is down to the 23-player cap.

Poitras will only carry a minimal cap hit of $30,990 to start the year. That’s because players on two-way deals who land on season-opening IR have their cap hits prorated based on the amount of time they spent on the roster last season. Poitras only suited up three times, so he’ll barely have an impact.

Development is stagnating for the 22-year-old Poitras. A second-rounder in 2022, he made a splash in the NHL earlier than most expected when he got into 33 games in the 2023-24 campaign. Stepping into a third-line role amid some injuries, he impressed with a 5-10–15 scoring line and a +4 rating – averaging 0.45 points per game – before shoulder surgery ended his season in February.

His production never recovered. Poitras had just one goal in 33 games the following year, splitting the campaign between Boston and AHL Providence. Then, last season, even his AHL production began to slip, limited to 44 points in 69 outings after registering over a point per game in the minors in 2024-25.

Poitras spent most of the summer without a contract before settling for a two-way deal at the beginning of training camp. With the infusions of JJ Peterka and James Hagens into the lineup, there wasn’t a clear spot for Poitras in the top 12, but he loses his waiver-exempt status this season. When he returns to health, the B’s will need to expose him to the wire if they want to send him back to Providence. Considering they’ve been willing to risk losing useful depth pieces Lukas Reichel and Alex Steeves to the same fate over the last couple of days, it stands to reason they’ll likely try to sneak Poitras down too when he’s activated.