Boston Bruins Blidh Unhappy ‘Just Sitting’ As Healthy Scratch

BRIGHTON, MA – It might appear that Anton Blidh’s time with the Boston Bruins might have come to an finish following this previous season.

The 27-year-old Swedish winger is definitely coming off his greatest NHL season with two targets, 9 factors and a career-high 32 video games with the Boston Bruins this season. Blidh had stretches of time the place he was very efficient as a fourth line power winger and performed effectively with veterans Tomas Nosek and Curtis Lazar.

Blidh additionally had stretches the place he was injured on account of his hard-driving model of play and the place the self-discipline wanted to play a bodily, power function obtained away from him as an inexperienced participant.

“Clearly I didn’t play as a lot as I needed. Some days have been harder than others,” stated Blidh, who was a sixth-round choose of a Boston Bruins 2013 NHL Draft that solely produced Peter Cehlarik and Blidh as very brief time NHL gamers. “However on the finish of the day I believed I did a reasonably good job of bringing power and a smile on daily basis.”

That truly all got here to a head in an April 5 highway loss to the Detroit Pink Wings the place Blidh took 12 penalty minutes after getting right into a slashing contest with Filip Zadina after the ultimate buzzer sounded for the third interval.

The Boston Bruins coaches weren’t proud of Blidh for taking the penalty and 10-minute misconduct after the sport was over, and he solely performed yet one more sport for the remainder of the season…the meaningless common season finale when Boston left quite a few their common gamers again in Boston to relaxation up for the playoffs.

Blidh appeared to know in his season-ending chat with the media that with the ability to stroll that line was one thing he wanted to nonetheless determine on the NHL degree.

“I believe like bringing all the straightforward stuff constantly,” stated Blidh, when requested what he wanted to work on over the summer time. “Be robust on the puck, be onerous to play towards and never step over the road and take silly penalties…however get beneath individuals’s pores and skin. Be efficient.”

Blidh was requested if he had many conversations with the Boston Bruins teaching workers about what he wanted to get extra taking part in time.

“Not likely,” stated Blidh. “We didn’t speak a lot.”

In flip, Blidh sounded equally sad that he was saddled within the doghouse for the ultimate month of the common season and the playoffs because the Boston Bruins went with a fourth line of Nick Foligno, Nosek and Lazar as a substitute of using him.

“Some days I’d relatively be within the AHL, to be sincere with you,” stated Blidh, when requested if he’d relatively have been taking part in within the AHL than sitting on the NHL degree. “I didn’t signal right here to simply sit within the ninth ground of the press field. I signed right here to play hockey. It’s the NHL, my purpose is to play up right here.

“Playoffs is the enjoyable a part of taking part in hockey. I felt like I might be a distinction some nights. In order that was onerous, yeah.”

The Boston Bruins group is the one one which Blidh has identified after spending seven seasons bouncing between Windfall and Boston, nevertheless it seems like each events may be on the finish of the highway because the unhappy Swedish winger heads to unrestricted free company this summer time.