Boston Bruins general manager has a lot to look at before the season starts next month. The first thing on his agenda is to take a look at what is going on with this year’s batch of rookies. Frank Vatrano was on that short list already. Now, its climbing to the top after his two goal performance in tonight’s rookie game against the New Jersey Devils. The rookie forward scored his second goal in overtime to give the Rookie Bruins a 4-3 win.
Just like that, we have a tie game, courtesy of Frank Vatrano! pic.twitter.com/PQ5oOTmVww
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) September 14, 2015
Now let’s see the big club match that performance (or do better) on opening night next month.
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Providence Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has seen Vatrano’s work already. Towards the end of last season, Vatrano left UMass-Amherst after signing an entry-level deal with the Bruins organization. Vatrano played five games in Providence last season. He scored one goal and put fifteen shots on net during those games.
Cassidy sees explosive potential in the young player. He believes that Providence could just be a stepping stone for the 21-year old forward.
“He’s got an NHL shot, an NHL release, already,”said Cassidy of Vatrano. “He’s just got to find a way to use it and get it off. And in Providence, he wanted to shoot the puck, and that’s a great mentality to have when you’ve got a good shot. nothing worse than trying to convince a guy to shoot the puck when he can really hammer it, so that won’t be an issue; it’s just a matter of getting open, finding the soft areas, the time and space to get a shot off, and he’ll have to learn that as he goes.”
Vatrano has certainly made an impressionable dent in the minds of the Bruins front office. Now he has to continue that progress. He’s got more ‘pro’ time under his belt than many of the rookies he’s in camp with. He’s not only trying to set a good example for himself, he’s trying to help the other young players. The Bruins rewarded that positive example by putting an ‘A’ on his jersey for tonight’s game.
“ just show management and everyone else that they signed me for a reason,” said Vatrano after Friday’s rookie practice. “I’m here to make a statement, just like everyone else is, but at that same time, you have to be a great teammate, and just hopefully, your game falls into place. For the most part, it usually does. Stick to what you’ve been doing, and everything will follow along. So I’m ready for the challenge.”
“I feel like an older guy here, and kind of lead by example,” said Vatrano on his secondary role as an unofficial mentor. “Being in Providence at the end of the year and coming to development camp has really helped me develop, and rookie camp now — just telling guys what the Bruins are all about, and how they preach hard work, and just take every day one at a time and just keep going hard.
“So that’s really what they want here, is just work hard, and everything else will take over.”
The hard work Vatrano put in tonight (along with goals from Noel Acciari (from Johnston, Rhode Island) and Jakub Zboril) gave the Boston Bruins organization its first win of the season.
Puck Prose
Vatrano has been given the information to be a success for the Bruins. It’s clear he has the talent. Now, he’s got to develop properly to move forward in the organization. It might take a season or more, but he could be a name that could see itself on the back of a Bruins jersey in the new future. As long as he is able to make a contribution to the organization at an AHL or NHL level.
“Everybody loves goal scorers, and if you can home grow them, it’s even better,” Cassidy said. “That’s how you’d like to think he’s going to make it. … It’s like a guy that can outskate everybody — well, he’d better use his speed to play up there. So Frankie’s going to have to, like I said, use his shot. But it’s easy to say that — ‘Oh, I’m going to shoot tonight’ — but the puck’s got to find you. You’ve got to go to the right spots, and you’ve got to be willing to fight through the checks, and be strong enough to get through all that stuff to get your shot off. So that will be the determining factor for him.
“And then when your shot dries up a little bit, you don’t get the chances, you’ve got to be able to contribute. You’ve got to be able to hold your own away from the puck or make plays or do the other things that are necessary.”