Boston Bruins: Chris Kelly could prove a very smart hire

The Boston Bruins recently named Chris Kelly as their new Player Development Coordinator. A smart hire from many perspectives.

Not only does Chris Kelly understand the ethos and mentality of being a Boston Bruins player, but he now gets to ensure the next generation of stars understand that too. Having a guy that won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins playing that role is incredibly smart.

Aside from just having history with the organisation, Chris Kelly has also, in his previous role as a Development Coach with the Ottawa Senators, overseen the graduation of young players to the NHL.

Now, the Ottawa Senators and their player graduations are maybe not the best example of a clear-cut development process. Last year, that team shed countless seasons of experience when they moved out long-time captain Erik Karlsson along with other experienced heads like Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel and Mark Stone at the trade deadline.

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This meant that, unlike the Boston Bruins current system, whereby players are expected to put in time in junior hockey, European leagues or the NCAA before even getting a shot with the Providence Bruins, players jumped straight into the Senators NHL team.

Under the tutelage of Chris Kelly; nine players played in their first NHL game last season. Not half bad if you’re providing key coaching to these young bucks. However, more telling will be where each of those individuals ends up in the long-run. Debuting too early can stunt a player’s development, equally on some occasions, it works better.

Appearing with three different sides across the course of his playing career and thus learning the ropes of coaching from multiple individuals should prove valuable as in coordinating the development of a prospect pipeline that needs to keep producing.

The Boston Bruins are starting to show some age at the top end of the line-up and it’ll be someone like Chris Kelly relied upon somewhat to ensure the likes of Anders Bjork, Zach Senyshyn and Trent Frederic are truly ready to step into an NHL line-up and make it stick.

Not to mention the newest group and ensuring that in a few years John Beecher is stepping in, hopefully to fill the skates of Patrice Bergeron. If Chris Kelly can play even a small role in ensuring that happens, he’s been successful.

Heck, if that were to happen and Beecher does turn out to be strong enough to replace Bergeron, Chris Kelly may well see his title changed to Head of Player Development for the Boston Bruins. For now though, it’s baby steps as he returns to the organisation he won the Cup with.