How Bruins prospect Fabian Lysell plans to approach a pivotal training camp with Boston
Bruins
“It’s just been going better and better for each week, and I think I’m ready to get going here in September.”
Ken McGagh for The Boston Globe
The Bruins are going to need some help up front in 2023-24.
Whether it be the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, or a severe cap crunch that forced it to deal away Taylor Hall and lose Tyler Bertuzzi in free agency, Boston will have to look inward in hopes of finding capable offensive conduits out on the ice.
Such a challenge isn’t lost on Bruins prospect Fabian Lysell, who has ramped up his training in his native Sweden in hopes of making a case for NHL reps this fall.
“I think the focus for me is just that I’m gonna be a little more comfortable there now,” Lysell said in an interview with Bruins team reporter Eric Russo on Tuesday from Sweden. “I know more people and I know the city a little bit better now. So for me, it’s just going to be to feel comfortable and have the confidence to go in there and prove that I’ve been developing since last year, take it day-by-day, and my [goal] at the end is to make the team.”
The Bruins have left no stone unturned this offseason when it comes to adding forward depth. Don Sweeney added forwards like Morgan Geekie, Milan Lucic, James van Riemsdyk, Patrick Brown, and Jesper Boqvist in free agency in order to shore various vacancies across the depth chart.
Boston also brought in veteran forward Alex Chiasson on a professional tryout (PTO) contract this week, while non-roster players like Anthony Richard and Jayson Megna are also looking to impress during training camp.
Sweeney’s bargain-bin shopping spree this summer means that younger prospects like Lysell or Georgii Merkulov will have an uphill climb this fall when it comes to making the roster.
The one factor working in Lysell’s favor is his high-end offensive talent and ceiling as a potential middle-six weapon.
With his skating ability, playmaking poise, and knack for driving to the net, Lysell could leapfrog other bottom-six wingers during camp if he dominates during preseason play.
“I wanna build off one of my strengths which is the power and speed and all that,” Lysell said. “Those two and [with] a combination of good conditioning, I feel like I’ll be in good shape.”
But for all of his potential, Lysell still needs to prove to the higher-ups in the Bruins organization that he has the wherewithal to both withstand the punishment up in the pro ranks, and grow his overall game.
Last season had its fair share of ups and downs for the 20-year-old winger in what stood as his first full campaign in Providence. In his first 20 games with the Baby B’s, Lysell put up 19 points.
But after posting zero points in seven games during the 2022 World Junior Championships with Sweden, Lysell recorded just 18 points over his final 34 games with Providence.
His campaign ended on an unfortunate note when a late, high hit from Hartford’s Adam Clendening in the Calder Cup Playoffs cut his year short in early May.
The lingering effects of that concussion limited Lysell early on during Boston’s latest development camp back in early July before eventually making it back out on the ice.
“I felt like I was kind of up and down the rest of the year,” Lysell said of his rookie year with Providence last month. “So it’s a lot of new things to take in. But looking back at it, I learned a lot of new things that I wouldn’t know within the last year. So I’m really looking forward to this upcoming year and I think I have more knowledge now that I’m really gonna be able to use for next year.”
Lysell’s priority this offseason has been to add more weight onto his 5-foot-11 frame in order to withstand the punishment that will await in the NHL if he continues to carry the puck straight into Grade-A ice.
But beyond his physical tools, Lysell believes that finally putting last season’s struggles in the rearview mirror will allow him to attack the 2023-24 season with a clean slate.
“It’s a lot to take in [in] my first pro year, [but] I think the most important thing is going to be to have that reset button and have that preparation to recover faster and all that stuff,” Lysell said. “Because before I played like 60 games and then last year, I played almost 90 [games], so that’s a huge adjustment.”
Lysell’s offensive tools have set him apart as one of the Bruins’ few blue-chip prospects over the last two years. But in order for him to take that next step forward, he’ll have to ensure that those talents translate to hockey’s highest level.
It’s a tough task to try to earn minutes on a Bruins roster already chock-full of NHL veterans, especially given that the 2021 first-round pick’s skillset doesn’t exactly translate to a checking-line role like a Jakub Lauko, Marc McLaughlin, or Johnny Beecher.
But Lysell doesn’t seem to be lacking in confidence as he tries to establish himself as Boston’s top prospect in 2023-24.
“It’s just been going better and better for each week, and I think I’m ready to get going here in September,” Lysell said.
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Originally posted 2023-08-25 03:44:57.
