The Boston Bruins have announced their annual Prospects Challenge, set to take place once again in Buffalo.
Five years in a row, the tournament has been held in Buffalo in early September; an early taste of hockey as the season nears its’ return. It’ll be taking place between the 6th and 9th of September.
Competing alongside the Boston Bruins will be the prospects of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils. This certainly could lead to some intriguing players being on show; not least the first overall pick from this year’s NHL Entry Draft, Jack Hughes.
Obviously, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be on show, given many people expect him to be suiting up with the New Jersey Devils come the start of the NHL season, but you’d have to say there’s at least a small chance.
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Among those competing for the Boston Bruins last season at this same tournament were Connor Clifton and Karson Kuhlman, both of whom ended up spending time in the line-up during the run to the Stanley Cup Final.
There would certainly be a hope that the same results befell some of the prospects that will be on show in the 2019 tournament.
This may well be another chance to see this year’s first round (30th overall) pick, John Beecher in Boston Bruins colours one more time before he heads off to college. It may also give us a first glimpse of Russian teenager, Pavel Shen on North American ice.
These young guys will likely find themselves joined by plenty of slightly more veteran prospects; after all, last summer saw the likes of Zach Senyshyn, Jeremy Lauzon, Urho Vaakanainen and Jakub Zboril out there.
You’d have to expect, despite being designated as ‘Black Aces’ during the play-off run and appearing routinely with the Providence Bruins that there’s every chance they will joint he tournament.
Perhaps most exciting of all is the chance for the likes of Anders Bjork, Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka to get into a healthy and competitive mindset ahead of the Boston Bruins’ NHL training camp.
They’ll be needing to put up a strong showing if they’re to finally make it stick in the NHL, otherwise it’ll be back to the Providence Bruins for another year of growing their respective games and hoping for roster spots to free up in the big league.