Bruins agree to professional tryout with Christian Ehrhoff: Report

During the World Cup of Hockey, Christian Ehrhoff’s strong play drew praise from his teammates and his coach.

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Boston Bruins also took notice of Ehrhoff, who came into the tournament without a pro contract, and have agreed to a professional tryout with the 34-year-old German blueliner. At the World Cup, Ehrhoff notched three assists and held up a plus-2 rating in six games for Europe.

“I know I can play somewhere in this world if I want to, so it’s not that I will sit at home and not do anything,” Ehrhoff said during the World Cup final series when asked about his contract situation. “I feel good about my game and I just focus on the next task with Team Europe.”

During the tournament, Ehrhoff paired with defenseman Mark Streit and this duo turned into a solid puck-moving pair for Team Europe.

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“He has been an important part of what many questioned before the tournament – that was our defensive core, whether we could find six defenseman to hold this level right through,” Europe coach Ralph Krueger said.

Last season Ehrhoff, a veteran of 789 NHL games, held a 0.25 points per-game average between the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks in 48 games played. It was the lowest points per-game average of his career.

Ehrhoff hasn’t been able to touch the levels he hit in 2010-11, his final season with the Vancouver Canucks when he had 14 goals and 50 points in 79 games played. He then cashed in on an unrestricted free agent contract with the Buffalo Sabres the following summer for 10 years at $40 million the and hasn’t scored more than 33 points in a season since. Buffalo bought him out the summer of 2014.

Ehrhoff has generally been a solid puck possession player, but last season he held a minus-2.39 score, zone and venue CF% Rel as he never quite found a role with the Blackhawks or Kings.

“Last year definitely wasn’t a good year. The fit in LA wasn’t right and then in Chicago I didn’t really play that much. (Coach Joel Quenneville) had other plans with the younger guys so it was definitely a tough year for me,” Ehrhoff said. “I had a good finish at the World Championship to get some confidence and got a good summer of training and then made the Olympics with Germany, which was huge and boosted my confidence too and I thought I’ve played well so far (at the World Cup).”

It’s unclear whether Ehrhoff has a legitimate chance to make the Bruins, but he at least has the opportunity to try to get back into the NHL, which may not have been as likely a scenario before the World Cup.

“I think he has played really well for us,” Team Europe captain Anze Kopitar said. “Obviously I know for whatever reason things in LA didn’t work out for him as good as he would have liked I’m sure. It’s definitely nice to see right now that he has been playing good and has been a big part of our blueline.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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