Glen Steeves grew up in Canada and played right wing in the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League, the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, and the Western Hockey League in clearly Canadian outposts such as Saint Boniface, Manitoba, and Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

“Oh yeah, he’s a Winnipeg, Manitoba boy, and he went to the University of Manitoba, met my mom here. She’s from Nova Scotia, but they met at school here,” Steeves said Wednesday after the Bruins finished practice at Canada Life Centre.

When the Jets franchise returned here in 2011, Steeves was hooked.

“I was just one of those kids who idolized his parents,” said Steeves, who liked the idea of standing out during preteen years in New Hampshire.

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“I was just always playing the Canada card just to be different,” he said with a laugh. “And when Winnipeg got the team back, my dad was so excited, and naturally by extension of that I was excited and kind of became a Jets fan.”

Steeves, who turned 26 Wednesday, will be fighting tooth and nail against his former favorite team when the Bruins face the Jets Thursday night.

A gifted goal scorer at every level, from his days with the Manchester Monarchs through his time in the USHL (Sioux City and Dubuque), the NCAA (Notre Dame), the AHL (where he led the league with 36 goals for Toronto in 2024-25), Steeves had been afforded the opportunity to prove it at the NHL level.

He had cups of coffee with the Maple Leafs (14 games across three seasons), but he’s finding traction with the Bruins this season, potting 6 goals and 8 points in 15 games.

Steeves has flashed the ability to play up and down the lineup, be it in a bottom-six checking role or in a more offensive piece in Marco Sturm’s hybrid system.

Lately he’s been playing right wing on the top line with Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. Even with David Pastrnak’s return, Sturm opted to keep Steeves in that spot in Tuesday night’s 5-2 win over the Blues, and he’ll be there against the Jets.

Sturm’s confidence in Steeves’s ability has, in turn, boosted the winger’s confidence.

“I think as a line, we’ve done a lot of really good things while Pasta was out, which was huge challenge as a team missing him and [Charlie McAvoy],” said Steeves. “So, for me, it’s just trying to go in there and help the team, and I feel like I’ve done a really solid job of that. As for [Tuesday] night, him keeping it that way, to be honest, I wasn’t expecting it. I was fully prepared to go down to a different line no matter what line it would’ve been or whatnot. But Marco made it clear to the team that everything’s about winning. And [Tuesday] night he felt as if that was what was best to win. And [Thursday] night he’ll do the same thing.”

Steeves has a quick release, but just as impressive is his swiftness on the forecheck, where he pounds and pins defenders to the back boards, often resulting in loose pucks his linemates can collect.

“As soon as I got put on a line with Lindy and Geeks, I just tried to have the awareness that if I take care of the puck, get it below the dots, and really force turnovers, then those are two pretty dangerous guys. We’re going to put it in the back of the net,” said Steeves. “That’s really, in my experience, how you score five-on-five at this level is off of mistakes. I think forechecking and physicality forces mistakes.”

Steeves was one of the last cuts in camp. He was admittedly disappointed at being assigned to Providence, but he made a promise to decision-makers Don Sweeney and Sturm that he’d be back.

“I have to tell you, a lot of guys say it,” Sturm said with a wide grin. “But to Steeves’s credit, a lot of guys don’t do it. The way he said it, I believed him. And I knew his time would come.”

The time is now.

***

McAvoy appeared to take another step closer to returning as he led the post-practice stretch. The Bruins’ top defenseman could see game action as early as Thursday after missing the last 11 following surgery for a facial fracture. “We are going to wait till [Thursday] to make the final decision,” said Sturm, whose club has gone 6-5 without McAvoy. “We know we were hoping he’s going to get a game or two out of it this road trip, so we’ll decide [Thursday].” … Sturm ran a competitive albeit brief practice Wednesday, encouraging his players to get some rest.

Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.