Boston Bruins: Top three players likely to surprise us at training camp

Samuel Asselin

Samuel Asselin might well be a bit of a dark horse for success and finds himself at the Boston Bruins training camp on an AHL contract as opposed to any sort of two-way deal, but we think there’s every chance he shines and surprises a lot of people.

It’s fair to say that late-bloomers aren’t always offered the chance. If you miss out on being drafted then you can either hang around in the lower echelons of professional hockey, maybe travel the world a little bit or you find an alternate career.

Luck has shone upon Samuel Asselin though as the 21 year-old showed enough with an 86 point year for the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL last year to earn a contract with the Providence Bruins.

The center man has a clear eye for goal given that over half those points came as goals, with a tally of 48 goals across that final junior hockey season, good enough for most goals in the league.

Now, I know junior hockey numbers can end up inflated especially when a player is that much older than his peers, but it’s not as if Asselin packs a huge height or weight advantage over the majority of the league.

Standing a just 5’9″ and a slight 181 lbs, he’s not exactly managed to dominate junior hockey last year using his size to get by. It’s safe to say that there’s plenty of untapped potential in Samuel Asselin and I think he’s coming to training camp this year and sticking around almost until the end.

Whilst we shouldn’t expect to see him in the Boston Bruins line-up this season, I’m fully expecting him to make his mark at training camp and impress in Providence, possibly leading to a deal next year.

Anders Bjork

If you caught any of the recent Prospects Challenge, you’d have surely taken some notice of Anders Bjork‘s performances. He came out of the three-game tournament looking like he’s ready to make a real go of it this season.

His game-winning goal with a second left against the Pittsburgh Penguins in that tournament was a particular highlight.

He already has fifty NHL games to his name, but has suffered injury setbacks year-on-year meaning they’ve all come in fits and spurts, so whereas guys like Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk have managed to make it stick in that time, he’s spent seasons rehabbing or stuck in Providence.

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This training camp, he should be arriving with a clean bill of health and ready to make a big impression. Given that there is an opening on the right wing, possibly two, he really has a good chance to finally elevate himself to a regular spot in the Boston Bruins line-up.

Tough competition from newcomers like Brett Ritchie, as well as Karson Kuhlman, who found his way into the line-up for the Stanley Cup play-off run last season, should hopefully motivate him even further.

As a fifth round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, it’s already safe to say that the Boston Bruins have found value, but if he can make a real go of it this training camp, it’ll be safe to say that Anders Bjork could turn out to be a later round steal.

For a 23 year-old to have suffered so many setbacks already, you’d have to think that his confidence may be a little shattered but if his early start to this new season is anything to go by, it’s the complete opposite.

If he can carry that same sure-fire confidence into the Boston Bruins training camp this week, we’ll be laughing.

Brett Ritchie

Brett Ritchie joined up with the Boston Bruins this summer after not being renewed by the Dallas Stars. He’s going to arrive seeking to prove a point, no doubt. With the players he’ll find himself playing alongside, we believe he’ll elevate himself at training camp and come out looking like a free agency bargain.

We’re looking to a player that elevated his game alongside stronger linemates for one season in Dallas; netting an NHL career-high of 16 goals and adding 8 assists across a 78 game stint. He backed that up by managing a further 7 goals and 7 assists in a 71 game run the next year.

These aren’t exactly world-beating numbers, but you could fathom a world in which he has a ceiling of about fifty points if paired with David Krejci and Jake Debrusk on the second line.

A total of 48 points across 68 games in his debut AHL season suggests there certainly is a scoring touch about him; it’s just a case of finding the right cehmistry to draw it out of the Stars’ 2011 second round pick.

When nobody is expecting too much, aside from adding to the roster depth, it should be viewed as a real opportunity. For Ritchie, that’s exactly what this year with the Boston Bruins should be; a huge chance to elevate his game and stake a claim, at 26 years-old to a regular NHL starting line-up spot.

However, to do this he really needs to come out at camp all guns blazing. If we see the Ritchie that Dallas got last year then I can’t see him stepping out of the press box very much, if he doesn’t find himself sent to Providence, that is. His return of 6 points in 53 games was a real let-down.

Training camp this year should be seen as a fresh start; a chance to impress the Boston Bruins and put last year in the past.

For all of these players, it’s not quite make-or-break, but it certainly sets the tone for the year ahead, both for them and the Boston Bruins.

If they come out of the gate red-hot, that’s perfect – the team will find itself comfortably on course to return to the playoffs at the very least. Should they falter though, in part because nobody showed up at training camp, well, the Atlantic Division is a challenging place.