Oskar Steen has one goal: Stick with the Bruins – The Boston Globe

But for a guy who has yet to sink his skates into NHL ice with any regularity, that $800,000 one-way deal told Steen he had a place with the Bruins — one that came to fruition again Saturday when he was summoned from AHL Providence and placed immediately in the lineup hours later to face the Red Wings at the Garden.

Now, for the fifth year running since leaving his home in Sweden to play in North America, the 5-foot-10-inch “brandpost” (Swedish for fire hydrant) would like the Providence-Boston shuttle to end. He prefers to be a Boston Bruin, one who doesn’t show up like he did Saturday morning, a WannaB with all his hockey tools shoved in a big Spoked-P bag, needing to convince one and all that he’s a legit, don’t-let-me-ever-see-Route-95-again NHLer.

“For sure, I was disappointed,” said Steen, noting how he felt when the fall’s varsity camp ended here and he, once again, was pointed back to Rhode Island. “I felt like I was very close to making the [Boston] team and I felt I had a really good camp.”

Had it not been for Sweeney’s July supermarket sweep in the UFA bargain aisle, Steen very well could have been in the opening night lineup vs. the Blackhawks. Veterans like Milan Lucic and James van Riemsdyk were added for money not much above Steen’s $800,000. The depth chart closed Steen out, along with the addition of rookie pivots Matthew Poitras and Johnny Beecher.

“Steener” was called back because Lucic, dinged with a lower-body injury on the recent four-game road trip, was placed on injured reserve. The Bruins also returned to Jesper Boqvist, another summer UFA signing, to Providence.

Lucic will be out a minimum two weeks and potentially longer, according to coach Jim Montgomery. Albeit without a promise beyond Saturday night, Lucic’s prolonged absence could allow the 25-year-old Steen a chance finally to gain a foothold on the Boston roster. It’s a place he’s never stayed more than his 20-game stint in 2021-22. All his other visits here, including Saturday, totaled seven games.

“I know what I have to do,” Steen said after the morning workout in Brighton, sounding almost like he was reading from a tattered script he keeps tucked in his back pocket. “I feel much more comfortable every time I get up here. I’ll try to bring my good hockey that I have played so far this season — so that’s what I am aiming for.”

He arrived with a solid endorsement from Ryan Mougenel, his coach in Providence, who told Montgomery that Steen had been “really impactful the last three games” in the AHL.

“Playing fast and going to hard areas,” said Montgomery, reflecting on what he saw in Steen’s game in training camp. “Playing inside the dots is a real strength of his … When you bring guys up, you want them feeling good about their games, feeling confident, and he’s a confident player right now.”

For size and body type, the 5-10, 195-pound Steen is just a bit bigger and thicker version of fellow brandpost Martin St. Louis, the prolific Hall of Fame winger who starred at the University of Vermont before becoming an NHL sensation. Steen never has displayed St. Louis’s touch, but he is similar in speed and, more important, his willingness to venture into high-contact areas around the net.

It’s his savviness down low that earned Steen the call-up again, in part because the Bruins today — without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci — do not score as much off the rush. Their best scoring bids are a product of sustained puck possession around the net.

If this audition shows Steen worthy of getting in front, getting chances, maybe potting one or two, then he has a chance of stay in town, now seven-plus years since the Bruins claimed him with pick No. 165 in the 2016 draft.

“Being inside the dots and playing heavy at the net,” mused Montgomery. “We are a significantly better O-zone-playing team, creating scoring chances this year, because of our presence at the net. It makes sense, the way we’re built.”

In his 201 AHL games, Steen has a career offensive line of 44-61–105. He delivered at better than twice that rate (3-2–5) in his five games back down there this season. If he could mirror that point-a-game rate at this level — something only 38 NHL regulars accomplished all of last season — he would be here to stay, backed with a contract far richer than that $800,000 confidence spaceholder.

For now, it’s baby steps — footprints like those Steen left in the Boston Harbor sand for 26 games prior to Saturday night. All of them, thus far, have been swept out by the tide.

“Just keep going,” said Steen, sharing his mind-set after his demotion three weeks earlier. “I was just trying to think that I would be back here soon. Now I am. That was my goal.”

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.