Boston Bruins: Who will be the next call-up from Providence?
The Boston Bruins have called upon their minor-league depth multiple times already this year. Who should we expect to appear in the NHL next?
The Boston Bruins, of late, have been struck with plenty of injury woes leading to a host of call-ups from their minor-league affiliate in Providence. Not altogether unlike last season in this regards.
At the last count, the Boston Bruins were missing Torey Krug, David Backes, Jake Debrusk, John Moore, Kevan Miller, Karson Kuhlman and Brett Ritchie versus the Florida Panthers. Granted, some of those names are depth players but there’s at least two playing higher up the line-up that needed a strong replacement.
As a result of all these injuries, we’ve seen the likes of Urho Vaakanainen, Zach Senyshyn, Peter Cehlarik, Cameron Hughes and Anders Bjork all earning NHL ice-time this year. Not all of them are presently with the big club, but you’d put safe money that at least two-thirds of those names will skate in the NHL again this year.
Looking at the Providence Bruins roster, they certainly have some names that they could offer to the big club if they’re struggling to ice a full team.
It’s not absurd to imagine any of the three goaltenders in the system sitting on the bench in a backup role – Dan Vladar, Maxime Lagace or Kyle Keyser could all serve in that role. In terms of seeing ice-time though, you’d probably give the nod to Lagace, the NHL veteran of the trio with 17 games for his previous side, the Vegas Golden Knights.
Beyond the goaltending, there’s a lot of options; it all depends though whether the Boston Bruins want to reward wily veterans for their longevity in the AHL or give youngsters a chance to prove themselves as future NHL stars:
The wily veterans seeking a chance with the Boston Bruins
Whilst the Boston Bruins line-up already has plenty of experience in the likes of team captain, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and company, you can never have enough leadership in the room.
The Providence Bruins roster is well-constructed with a great blend of youthful enthusiasm and veteran experience and leadership to keep the young guys in check.
Providence team captain, Paul Carey is a great option to have up our sleeves; he’s the sort of locker-room guy that is relied upon in the AHL to teach the youngsters NHL lessons. He has made a career of bouncing between the NHL and AHL, suggesting he is more than able to get the job done but offers nothing more than your standard replaceable call-up.
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Perhaps the reason why he’s an outside shot at a promotion is the fact that he is the Providence Bruins captain. Why subtract that leadership from your American Hockey League affiliate, only to plug him in, most likely on the Boston Bruins fourth line for a game or two?
The next wily veteran is Brendan Gaunce. I know what you’re thinking – he’s hardly a wily veteran. Indeed, no he isn’t – he’s just 25 years old. However on a roster that has an average age of just 23 (and a bit), he’s one of the older players.
He has 4 goals and 2 assists in 9 games this season, not bad for the first-round pick (26th overall) of the Vancouver Canucks back in 2012, though not as lofty in production as Carey, who has 13 points through 16 games, nor the next veteran, Alexander Petrovic.
Alex Petrovic was added this summer after a successful professional try-out with the Boston Bruins. Given the defensive depth in the NHL, he was always a rank outsider to make the opening night roster, but any further injuries on the blue-line and you’d think he may get a chance.
He has proven himself more than capable in the American Hockey League, breaking out with some offensive flair for 12 points in 15 games. Given the 27 year old has never cracked more than 20 points in an AHL season, safe to say he’s producing above expectations and could prove useful to the Boston Bruins at some point.
Obviously, these guys are fighting with the young bucks too, in the hopes of earning that call-up. But who exactly?
Young bucks hoping to stand-out
Leading this list is a player that we feel the Boston Bruins may well eventually fold it’s hand on. That being our 2013 3rd round (90th overall) draft pick, Slovakian winger Peter Cehlarik.
He has shown plenty with the Providence Bruins to suggest that there’s talent there, however over the past few years, he’s found himself in a Boston Bruins uniform on multiple occasions and has never managed to produce much to suggest he’s worthy of staying in the NHL full-time.
Cehlarik, courtesy of injuries last year, saw 20 games with Boston but has found himself languishing in the minor league once more – thus far, he’s producing at better than a point-per-game with 10 points in 9 games, but until he shows some NHL consistency, we think he’s at his ceiling.
All that said, he’s still probably the first man up.
Moving down the list, Cameron Hughes leap-frogged a name I’d have expected to have seen an NHL look, that being Jack Studnicka.
Perhaps this is more long-term thinking by the Boston Bruins management, not wanting to reward Studnicka for his consistent production in the AHL too early. After all, he is still freshly arrived from the major junior hockey and only has a total of 20 professional games under his belt, including last year’s 4 play-off games for Providence.
Either way, should he continue to prove himself consistently, and indeed if the need arose in the right position on the Boston Bruins, it wouldn’t be wholly surprising if Studnicka makes his NHL debut this season.
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Cameron Hughes’ call-up for a game a few weeks back was slightly surprising, but it was just reward for a player that has worked incredibly hard as a member of the Providence Bruins since going professional after 4 years in the University of Wisconsin program. Expect to see him given a few more NHL chances before the season is out.
Finally, on the blue-line, it’s really a bit of a toss-up between Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon – both offer enough to suggest they could comfortably slot in on a third pairing at the very least. However, both find their path blocked not only by Vaakanainen, but also Kevan Miller when he returns, Connor Clifton, Steven Kampfer and John Moore (if he eventually returns).
Notwithstanding the notion that Alex Petrovic may well be the next man up from Providence if defensive reinforcements are required in Boston.
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The future is looking safe, albeit it’s a little concerning that these guys all seem like realities to play NHL hockey before the season is out. All these injuries really are a worry.