Bruins waive Eyssimont for Poitras, and Zacha should be sweating

Look, the Bruins just waived a guy for the crime of being available. Mikey Eyssimont didn't dress for any of Boston's first three games, and on Sunday afternoon he got the paperwork, which is a rough way to learn you're the spare tire.

Here's the math. Charlie McAvoy is still serving the six games he got for slashing Zach Benson in May, so Boston is carrying eight defensemen. Something up front had to give, and Matt Poitras is the reason it gave this particular weekend.

Poitras hurt his lower body midway through camp and started the season on injured reserve. He was back at practice Thursday, so if Eyssimont clears on Monday, he reports to Providence and the kid gets his seat.

Grade on the move: B. It's the right call, because Poitras is 22 and was flying in camp before he got hurt. Eyssimont is 30, in the last year of a $1.45 million deal, and put up 18 points in 56 games last season.

You don't park the kid in the press box to keep the backup plan warm.

"Every day, he's been good, and he's playing with pace; he's played with grit," Marco Sturm said of Eyssimont. That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said right before handing a guy a bus ticket to Providence.

Now, the risk: somebody out there might actually claim him. A forward who kills penalties and plays three spots on a cheap, expiring deal is exactly what a contender wants in October.

If that happens, Boston lost a fourth-liner to make room for a kid, which is fine, that's the business. Just don't call me when Eyssimont scores against you in March.

Kept off the sheet

Here's the part that should worry Boston considerably more than anything happening on the waiver wire. Through three games, by our count, Pavel Zacha has zero points in 18.1 minutes a night. Casey Mittelstadt has zero in 15.3.

Meanwhile Mark Kastelic, playing 11.1 minutes, has a point in all three games. The fourth line is outscoring the guys paid to score. Three games is a tiny sample, I know. It's also three straight games of an 18-minute forward searching for the scoresheet with a flashlight.

Buddy, I'm begging you, Pavel. Get one on the sheet before Kastelic asks for your power-play time.

Bruins tax: Boston is 2-1. They shut out the Rangers 3-0, beat Winnipeg in overtime, then lost 4-1 in Minnesota. Anywhere else that's a perfectly reasonable start to a season. In Boston it's a crisis with a phone line.

McAvoy is about 10 days from coming back, and then Boston can go back to a normal roster. If Poitras plays the way he did in camp, nobody's going to ask for Eyssimont back. If he doesn't, Zacha gets a new roommate in the doghouse.

I said what I said, and I'll say it again in March.