"Had to,'' said a smiling White, now proudly wearing his Boston sweater as a Bruins rookie. "You know, just to get some Massachusetts guys into it.''

BUFFALO — A.J. White grew up in Dearborn, Mich., Red Wings country. So when the Bruins faced the Wings in Round 1 of the playoffs in 2014, it wasn't hard to identify the guy sporting that Winged Wheel sweater as he walked around the UMass-Lowell campus.

He signed an AHL deal with the Bruins over the summer and is here with the couple dozen other Boston freshmen, who Sunday night will kick off a two-day round-robin tourney with Devils and Sabres rookies.


"A smart, solid, two-way forward,'' said assistant general manager John Ferguson Jr. "He's got some size, not flashy, not overly offensive, but he's got some decent parts to his two-way game.''

White, 6 feet 2 inches and 205 pounds, was 50 pounds lighter in 2010, his draft year, and his lack of size kept NHL clubs from selecting him. By autumn 2012, his freshman year at Lowell, he had added 20 pounds and quickly worked in as a regular in coach Norm Bazin's offense.

"It taught me how to mature as an athlete,'' said White, reflecting on his tenure at Lowell, where he added weight, muscle, and depth to his game. "They did a good job helping me to put on the weight and got me out of my shell, to become more of a leader. Hockey East is an unbelievable division. You never can take a night off there, and that's another thing I learned, you have to come ready to play every day.''

White's odds of starting Boston's main camp on Thursday are long. He was signed to an AHL deal, which means he's all but a lock to start the season in Providence under coach Kevin Dean.


"Smart player, positionally strong,'' said Dean, when asked what he's noticed of White after two days of workouts here. "I like the fact that he seems to be a responsible player, can handle the puck and get to the right spot on the ice.''

Knowing the drill

The final practice session on Saturday was an uptempo, three-on-three drill that had a net positioned at each blue line, with the six players in a scramble for the puck — all meant for sharpening transition skills.

"Any time you miss the net,'' noted Dean, "you activate the other team's offense. So it's the transition game, to get you to think, 'OK, it's going the other way now, I am either defending or I am hopping into a good area.'

"There were some streaks and sequences where it was like, breakaway, breakaway, breakaway because the players were getting the idea, 'OK, now I'm on offense.' And that's the way the game is played — you go from backchecking to offense in a hurry, right? So the quicker you can realize that and pop into a good area and support the puck . . . it's kind of a fun game to reinforce that idea.''

Wait and see

Dean said he had decided on Sunday night's lineup against the Devils but would not announce the handful of scratches because he would not inform players of his decision until the morning . . . Each of the Bruins' goalies, Daniel Vladar and Zane McIntrye, will start a game and will be expected to play the full 60 minutes or more. "I think it helps them get into the game,'' Dean said. "Sometimes, because of ebb and flow of a game, if you come in halfway, the team might be playing terrible and you get shelled, or they're playing well and you never see the puck. I think it's better that they play the full 60.'' McIntyre, selected No. 165 overall in the 2010 draft, turned pro last season after three years at the University of North Dakota and played the full season with AHL Providence. Vladar, only 19, was the No. 75 overall pick in the 2015 draft and played last season with the USHL's Chicago Steel . . . All rookies will pack up Tuesday morning for the flight back to Boston. Dean wasn't sure of Wednesday's plans, but he expected some of the rookies will skate, particularly those who will be advancing to the varsity camp on Thursday . . . After facing the Devils in Sunday's opener, the Bruins close the tournament Monday night against the Sabres.


Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeKPD.