The news on Trent Frederic was not good for the immediate fortunes of the Bruins. How much it hurts their chances of gaining traction for the future remains to be seen.

Interim coach Joe Sacco confirmed that Frederic, who was hurt on a check from Toronto’s Jake McCabe on Tuesday, will be out “week-to-week” with a lower body injury. Frederic was seen passing through the locker room with a walking boot on his right leg.

Frederic is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and, considering where the B’s are in the standings, he is widely expected to be moved at the March 7 deadline. While Frederic has had a disappointing season (8-7-15 totals) after setting career highs with 18 goals and 40 points last season, he’s drawn some interest around the league for his physical style that saw him be an effective player in the playoffs last season.

We are still almost two months from the playoffs, so an interested team could still get him for what they wanted, but the injury could hurt his value on the market. And while this is not what the Bruins needed with regard to the trade deadline, it’s bad news for the player himself. It is not the best way for Frederic to be getting his first crack at unrestricted free.

It’s a tough break all around, but it does create playing time for some players who are trying to establish themselves in the NHL. Riley Tufte was set to go in the lineup in place of the injured Frederic on a line with Matt Poitras and Justin Brazeau, who was drawing in for Oliver Wahlstrom.

“It’s an opportunity for another player to step in, like on the back end,” said Sacco. “It gives a guy like Riley Tufte an opportunity to get some more minutes, be used more in an offensive situation, playing with Matty and we’ll see how he responds.”….

The power play has had season-long issues, but the B’s may have hit on something. Morgan Geekie was moved to the left elbow spot which David Pastrnak had inhabited for years while the right shot Pastrnak was switched over to his strong side.

They scored on two out of six power plays in the loss on Tuesday to Toronto, with both goals emanating from Pastrnak on the right side. First, he fed the puck down low to Brad Marchand for the captain’s goal in the first period and then he started the play that eventually was finished by a Geekie one-timer off a rebound of an Elias Lindholm bumper shot.

“I think we moved the puck well,” said Geekie. “We played with it a lot of the game and fortunately got a lot of opportunities. With that, there’s a lot of different plays and opportunities you can go off that we can run off Dave’s side. Obviously it’s more of a shot on my side but you saw on my goal how we went down and in to Marchy and Lindy. There’s a lot we can do and we’ll just try and keep building and keep growing as a group.”

Geekie, who has a career-high 19 goals, is not afraid to shoot the puck. But one of the main weapons on the elbow – the one-timer – is something that has to be honed.

“It’s definitely something I’ve had to work at,” said Geekie. “I feel like when I was growing up, you never really hit one-timers. That was the thing you did at the end of practice when the coaches left and it was fun to hit one-timers. Now the game is so fast and you see one-timers all over the ice, not just necessarily on the power play. And you see how important it is with the 1-3-1 set-up on the power plays with elbow shots and stuff. It’s definitely something I work on. I’ve still got some improving to do, but it’s definitely a skill I’ve tried working on, for sure.”

We’re used to seeing Pastrnak being the one to take the one-timers, something teams have been intent on taking that away, rather successfully. Just six of his 30 goals have come on the power play.

But it shouldn’t eliminate a player like Pastrnak, who has now crept up to seventh in NHL scoring.

“Last game David was able to control the puck on that side coming down on his forehand. He can shoot, he can slide it over.. He has different options,” said Sacco. “It’s a dangerous shot (from the strong side). I’ve seen lots of power plays in my day doing the kill where you’ve got guys like (Auston Matthews) coming down the hill. You have other guys attacking on their forehand. That’s a dangerous shot, especially if you have someone out front of someone sitting on the back post.”…

Brazeau got back in the lineup as he weathers a brutal cold streak. His last goal was on January 5 against Thursday’s opponent, the Islanders, and his last point was on January 18 against the Senators.

“He’s not playing one of the two lines anymore. His role has changed since (Charlie) Coyle’s moved up there (with Marchand and Lindholm). Right now, when you get into post-break and you get into this stretch, the pace of the game increases,” said Sacco. “Braz is an effective player from the top of the circles down in the offensive zone. He’s a reliable player defensively away from the puck for the most part, but the pace of the game has picked up and that’s where he needs to stay with it on top of that part of the game. He can be a good player for us when he’s moving his feet, when his reloads are good off the forecheck coming back into our D-zone. But as far is it drying up offensively, sometimes players go through it sometime. He’s a big body, he’s got to find a way to get to the net consistently, get pucks in there. He’ll be back on the second power-play unit tonight so when they get their opportunities, hopefully he can chip in.”

When he scored his 10th goal of the season on January 5, it looked like he had a legitimate shot at 20 goals. That’s not going to happen now. His goal is to get to the net, where good things happen.

“It’s obviously not been the ideal stretch for me, but I can’t do anything about it now,” said Brazeau. “I just have to keep looking forward and try to find my game and get back to what I was doing.”

Brazeau, as a pending UFA, could be wearing a different uniform come next week. His name has been out there as a possible trade target for a team, an unusual development for a player who was playing in Providence on an AHL contract a little more than a year ago.

“It’s definitely different. I’ve had a couple of buddies send me texts. Kind of crazy. But I haven’t really thought about it too much,” said Brazeau.