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Kalman: Trotman Must Take Advantage Of Inside Track To Roster Spot

BOLTON (CBS) -- If center David Krejci has the spotlight on him as the most important returning veteran reporting to Bruins training camp later this weekend, defenseman Zach Trotman enters camp as the most important younger returning player.

The 25-year-old defenseman has just 29 games of NHL experience to his name, after he played in 25 games for Boston last season. When the Bruins signed Trotman to a two-year contract, with the second year being a one-way contract, before last season, they expected that his development would put him in the mix for a NHL job in 2015-16. But after the trade of Dougie Hamilton and the lack of development from Matt Bartkowski, who left for Vancouver as a free agent of the summer, Trotman almost has to make the Bruins' decision to sign him to a one-way deal look prescient.

"I'm excited," Trotman said before the Bruins' annual charity golf tournament Monday. "It's my first year on my one-way. I got some good games in last year, some good experience. I think I'm ready to move forward here and try to be a key player for the team, try and help out. So I'm looking forward to getting things going."

There's no way Trotman will make up for the entire loss of Hamilton's two-way play. But he gained vital experience playing with captain Zdeno Chara last season when Hamilton was injured and even sometimes when Hamilton was in the lineup. Trotman improved as the season went along and even played more than 20 minutes in the Bruins' next-to-last game when they were still fighting for a playoff spot.

Luckily for the Bruins, Trotman's game was trending upward by the time their season ended in the regular season, and then the Providence Bruins' American Hockey League season ended in the first round of the playoffs. In the middle of the season, Trotman's game had been trending in the opposite direction and he was even a healthy scratch for the P-Bruins. Disappointment over his inability to crack the NHL lineup earlier in the season and other factors contributed to Trotman's slump. When he finally got his head on straight, he emerged as one of the few bright spots in Boston's disappointing season.

Trotman, who was the last pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, says he's learned how to avoid the pitfalls of last season.

"I think at this point, it's more mental than anything. I'm always going to put in the work, but making sure that my head's in the right place and I'm prepared mentally," he said. "I did a lot of thinking this summer about camp and this season and making sure that my head's in the right place."

Although Trotman probably has the inside track of picking up a roster spot, nothing is guaranteed. Kevan Miller is back healthy and Joe Morrow, Linus Arnesson, Matt Irwin and others will be trying to make Trotman expendable.

Part of that right frame of mind will be not worrying about what management is thinking or how his competitors for a job are performing.

"I think as a young player it's easy to get caught up in it. I don't want to say I never thought about it. I'm sure there's been multiple times when it's kind of slipped into my head without me realizing it," Trotman said. "And you can easily get caught up in that. So yeah, I'd say definitely this summer I tried to not think about it because I can only control what I can control."

The Bruins are counting on Trotman being in control so that they can continue to remake their back end with him as a major part of it.

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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