( Photo Credit: Steve Babineau / Getty Images )

By: Joe Travia | Follow me on Twitter @NHLJoeTravia

With the start of the regular season only eight days away, the Bruins began trimming down their roster to the allotted 23-player limit. Per the NHL waiver wire, the Bruins placed forward Oskar Steen on waivers along with defensemen Connor Carrick and Nick Wolff. If another team does not claim them in the next 24 hours, all three players are expected to report to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League.

Even with the injuries to their defense corps, Carrick and Wolff faced long odds of making the team on opening night. A veteran of 241 NHL games, Carrick, 28, was signed to a one-year, two-way contract by General Manager Don Sweeney on July 13th, 2022, to provide organizational depth. Wolff, 26, signed a one-year, two-way contract this summer. After four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Wolff came to the Bruins organization as an undrafted free agent in the 2020-2021 season. Both players are likely to clear waivers and spend the year in Providence as injury insurance.

The move to place Steen on waivers will come as a bit of a surprise to some. Since being selected with the Bruins sixth-round pick in 2016, Steen has become one of the organization’s more intriguing forward prospects. After a hot start to the 2021-2022 season in Providence, Steen was called up to Boston and did not look out of place. He collected six points in 20 games before being sent back down to Providence but impressed Bruins management enough to earn a two-year, one-way contract extension worth $800k per season.

Expected to compete for a bottom-six role this year, Steen had a bit of an underwhelming training camp and preseason performance. While he did score one goal against the Rangers, Steen never really separated himself, and it was becoming clear that he had fallen behind other roster hopefuls Marc McLaughlin, Chris Wagner, and AJ Greer. Though he did not perform up to expectations in training camp, Steen is still a talented prospect which I am sure the Bruins hope gets through waivers unclaimed. We will find out more tomorrow.