The Boston Bruins placed forward Michael Eyssimont on waivers Sunday, the team announced.
It seems that the Bruins plan on assigning him to their American Hockey League affiliate in Providence, a roster decision that points toward a younger lineup taking shape early in the 2026-27 season.
Eyssimont, 30, had held the extra forward spot out of training camp after a solid preseason, helped along by Matthew Poitras opening the year on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.
Poitras is now close enough to a return that he could be available as soon as Monday against Ottawa.
With Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic already filling the heavier fourth-line roles, and both Poitras and James Hagens in position to claim regular work, Boston no longer has an obvious nightly place for Eyssimont.
The move is still not a formality. Eyssimont has been an NHL regular since the 2021-22 season and has not played in the AHL since 2022-23.
The Bruins’ official announcement lists 269 career games with Winnipeg, San Jose, Tampa Bay, Seattle and Boston, with 33 goals and 41 assists.
Last season, in the first year of the two-year free-agent contract he signed after leaving the Kraken, he dressed for 56 games and produced eight goals and 10 assists.
He also landed 54 hits while playing a simplified, physical bottom-six game. His role tightened as the year went on. He appeared in only two of Boston’s six playoff games against Buffalo and did not record a point.
That profile is familiar around the league. A fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2016, the Littleton, Colorado native is often listed as a center and can take the occasional draw, but he has spent almost all of his NHL time on the wing.
He shoots left, does not kill penalties, and is more likely to finish a shift in the box after mixing it up. Teams have also trusted him in his own end: nearly 58 percent of his five-on-five shifts last season began in the defensive zone.
Three years ago he played 81 games for a 45-win Lightning team and posted 11 goals and 25 points, the kind of season that helped make him a multi-year free-agent target.
His contract is the other variable. The deal carries a $1.45 million cap hit and expires this summer, a number that is manageable for a fourth liner but high enough that some clubs may prefer to let him pass.
If he clears, Providence would get a veteran who can play both wings and step into a call-up later if injuries hit. If he is claimed, Boston sheds the full hit and opens roughly $7.5 million in cap space.
Either result fits the short-term priority already visible on the roster: room for Poitras, and a clearer path for the younger forwards the Bruins want to evaluate.
