Boston Bruins: Who will be the next call-up from Providence?

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.

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.

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.