Kalman: Bruins Rookie Camp Brian Ferlin's First Chance to Fight for Job
WILMINGTON (CBS) -- Among players who'll report to Ristuccia Arena for the official first day of Bruins rookie camp Thursday, it'll be difficult to beat out forward Brian Ferlin in the dedication department.
Ferlin signed his first entry-level pro contract with the Bruins in the spring. After finishing up his junior season at Cornell, the Jacksonville, Fla., native moved to an apartment in Foxboro so he could work out and skate at Edge Performance Systems alongside some of the best NHL and college players from the Bay State.
"Yeah, I mean I think physically I felt like I worked hard with weights and stuff this summer to get bigger, faster, stronger," Ferlin recently told CBS Boston. "I've noticed I feel like I've got an extra gear, just kind of working on my explosiveness and speed over the summer. It really helped to be up here working with a trainer which is something that I haven't done in a while. Usually I go home to Florida and it's hard to train for hockey down there. I feel like he definitely kind of helped me a lot, added an extra gear."
He also skated in the pro league at Foxboro Sports Center, where he was teammates with established NHL players like Brian Boyle and Brian Gibbons. With a summer's worth of NHL caliber competition under his belt, Ferlin now heads into rookie camp as one of a few forwards with a chance to challenge for a bottom-six job on the NHL roster.
The main-camp competition is already crowded with young players with plenty of pro experience and a couple of journeymen on tryout deals before rookie camp even opens. But there are plenty of guys in rookie camp that could gain momentum in an attempt to climb up the depth chart.
Matt Lindblad is the only player on the rookie camp roster with NHL experience. Anthony Camara and Seth Griffith are well-seasoned AHL veterans now. David Pastrnak is the 2014 first-round draft pick everyone is banking on making a big splash. But the 22-year-old Ferlin will bring his own assets to the camp, including the ability to protect the puck like an NHL veteran.
Ferlin, who's listed at 6-foot-2, 209 pounds, improved his goal totals at Cornell from eight to 10 to 13 each of his three seasons. He also took a mature approach to his off-ice life, which impressed the Big Red coaching staff.
"He's pretty focused. He knows how to take care of his body," Cornell associate head coach Ben Syer said. "What I mean by that is he's already got a routine in place where he spends a lot of time stretching ... so he's very conscious of what he puts into his body, how he takes care of his body. So I think he's got that side of things under control."
Ferlin might have had a little less fun than your average college junior last year. But how many of them will be going head to head with Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand this fall in training camp with a chance to achieve the lifelong goal of playing in the NHL? The sacrifice was no problem for Ferlin.
"I feel like I tried to go in last year and treat it like I was playing pro hockey and take care of myself and hopefully it would work out for me at the end of the year," he said.
Many are looking at rookie camp and the rookie tournament in Nashville as a springboard for Pastrnak to beat out a veteran for a job in training camp. There's no reason why that opportunity should be limited to Pastrnak, and any of the players who've already signed contracts with the Bruins could emerge as a dark horse for an NHL job. That's part of the reason Ferlin left school early, the whole reason why he immersed himself in Boston hockey over the summer and why he can't wait to finally get going in the Music City.
"I can't wait. I know you've got some Providence guys coming down with us too. So I'm excited to play with some of those guys and just get back into the swing of things," he said. "And definitely take it one day at a time and hopefully go down there and make a good impression and come to training camp and work hard and see what happens."
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
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