Boston Bruins: Expecting another year of over-ripening in Providence?

The Boston Bruins don’t exactly have much space going spare on the main roster. This is going to likely lead to another year in Providence for many of their prospects.

It’s shown across the league that this approach won’t necessarily be a bad thing for the Boston Bruins. Leaving players with the Providence Bruins for a year or so, even when they’re ready for the NHL, won’t significantly stunt or hinder their development.

On the flip side, bringing them up from Providence too early will massively impact their development. The Boston Bruins can learn plenty from teams like the Edmonton Oilers, who promoted Jesse Puljujarvi too early among others.

In the case of Puljujarvi, he is now a fourth overall pick seeking to leave the club that drafted him after just three seasons. His NHL career thus far has amounted to just 37 points in 139 regular season games despite his high drafting. This from a player that was grabbing a point every second game in the Finnish Liiga, against men, in his draft year.

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The Boston Bruins find themselves with the opposite quandary; players may be ready for promotion to the National Hockey League but there’s no room.

Ever spot on their twenty-three man roster is presently taken, though one of those is held by Russian teenager, Pavel Shen, who may well end up with the Providence Bruins himself. In fact, two players will need to be moved down when the Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo deals finally come through.

Sitting with the Providence Bruins awaiting their chance patiently are the likes of Trent Frederic, Anders Bjork, Zach Senyshyn, Peter Cehlarik, Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon.

All of these players have at least had the briefest taste of what it feels like to suit up in a Boston Bruins uniform for a National Hockey League game, however none have quite made it stick. All of them enter this season with another year of ripening on the cards.

The only clear-cut way any of these guys earns themselves a promotion is if the Boston Bruins are willing to demote the likes of John Moore, Kevan Miller or David Backes; all of which seem very unlikely scenarios. Or equally as unlikely of late, trading any of the aforementioned.

Now of course, in the past campaign there were plenty of injuries and a couple of players stepped up and made the most of the opportunities outside of Providence, namely Connor Clifton and Karson Kuhlman. They both show that when the chance comes, you have to grab it and not let go.

Having these guys over-ripening shouldn’t harm them and if the Boston Bruins do choose to quit on any of them, having NHL-ready players should improve their returns on the trade market if nothing else.