Bruins Prospect News and Notes

PedroSpecialK

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JFJ’s comments about his ‘third line ceiling’ certainly didn’t help, and I think it’s clear he has a higher upside than that
 

cshea

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Their best prospect might even be Donato who isn’t in the system yet.

Edit: And he already has a goal tonight. He had a 3g 1a game last weekend against Vermont. He seems...good.
 

jsinger121

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Their best prospect might even be Donato who isn’t in the system yet.

Edit: And he already has a goal tonight. He had a 3g 1a game last weekend against Vermont. He seems...good.
Donato is by far their best prospect. He could play in the NHL now from a few college coaches I know that have faced him.
 

TheRealness

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Donato is by far their best prospect. He could play in the NHL now from a few college coaches I know that have faced him.
I would agree with this from a non-AHL/NHL roster perspective. I hope he gets a top 9 role in the Olympics, because he gives me added incentive to watch the US team play.

As for Frederic, he got more of an opportunity in the Bronze medal game and shined. The USA team was deep, and arguably the deepest at the forward position in the tournament, and Frederic was often buried on the 4th line. In what I saw, he plays a good possession game, and moves well for his size. He's probably a #2/3 Center prospect-wise, but I could see him serving a power forward wing role as well. Long way to go for him, but he looks solid.

Lindgren is what he is: a stay at home defenseman, similar to their 1st from this year, whose name I can't pronounce, who played very conservatively for Finland in the WJC. Finland in general disappointed, and it would have been nice to see Urho be more creative offensively. Both seem redundant, but I like Lindgren more overall.

Steen was a nice little surprise, as was Koompannen. Very solid tournaments for them, and gives them even more to think about.

As @TFP said, the Bruins "problem" now is figuring out which kids to invest in long term, and which to cut bait with. I'd really like to see them keep JFK, Bjork, DeBrusk, Lauzon, and Donato. Outside of that, I'd be pretty open to them moving on from some of the other guys. I just don't know what value at present guys like Zboril and Senyshyn have, although Senyshyn is a guy that I'd like to keep as well.

Great problem to have for sure.
 

FL4WL3SS

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Do they really need to figure that out now though? I think we all know that a few of these kids will fizzle out, so the "problem" most likely takes care of itself.

While the system looks great now, I would guess only a handful make any meaningful impact in the NHL. I think Sweeney has plenty of time to let the dust settle. He can continue to use the bottom two lines as a rotating try out like he's done this year. I think it's the best use of those lines and the best use of the assets he has.

I just don't see any value in moving on from any of the players they have in the system right now.
 

kenneycb

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I think it’s more just in terms of asset management. If they don’t think a guy is going to amount to something, they should certainly look to move him especially if it’s going to help the B’s.
 

Eddie Jurak

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While I get that, I'm not sure any of them are at a point where you can make that determination which is why I think it'll play itself out.
Yes. The advantage of having so many legit prospects is that, after the inevitable attrition, a few will still be left standing...
 

Dummy Hoy

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Lindgren was the best Bs prospect in th WJs for my look. I’m not positive that Frederic is a top 6 guy, but if he doesn’t quite have that skill, he’s got the rest of the game to have a nice career. Size, smarts, face offs, etc...I like the kid a lot even if I wonder what his NHL ceiling is.

I think Lindgren will be a better version of Grzelcyk.
 

cshea

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Let’s do a “bored and Bruins bye week” check in on the system...

CHL

Jack Studnicka- 40 games 11-31=42
Cedric Pare- 38 games 9-14=23
Daniel Bukac-14 games 0-4=4
Kyle Keyser- .901 save percentage

NCAA

Ryan Donato- 15 games 14-8=22
Wiley Sherman- 15 games 2-3=5
Trent Frederic- 22 games 8-8=16
Cameron Hughes- 23 games 7-9=16
Ryan Lindgren- 21 games 2-2=4
Jack Becker- 13 games 1-1=2
Jeremy Swayman- .932 save percentage

EUROPE

Urho Vaakanainen- 24 games 1-3=4
Joona Koppanen- 25 games 0-8=8
Oskar Steen- 28 games 3-2=5
Alex Khokhlachev- 46 games 14-26=40
Victor Berglund- 30 games 1-6=7

PROVIDENCE

Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson- 35 games 11-13=24
Zachary Senyshyn- 34 games 6-10=16
Ryan Fitzgerald- 25 games 6-6=12
Jakub Zboril- 32 games 0-5=5
Jeremy Lauzon- 15 games 0-2=2
Peter Cehlarik- 8 games 5-3=8
Emil Johansson- 19 games- 1-4=5
Austin Czarnik- 29 games 9-23=32
Anders Bjork- 3 games 2-2=4
Jesse Gabrielle- 21 games 1-3=4*
Zane McIntyre- .893 save percentage
Daniel Vladar- .910 save percentage (ECHL, not Providence)

* Gabrielle was returned to the WHL Regina Pats last week. Not sure if this was performance based or simply a too many bodies situation where he was likely to lose significant ice time with Providence adding Beleskey, Bjork and Cehlarik.

So there we go. I think that covers most of the group. A lot of the Providence kids, especially the D, have run into injury problems. Hopefully they have a healthy run here in the second half. Koko would be an intriguing name to return, he seems to be playing well. Wonder if he will be on whatever they are calling the Russia n Olympic team. Koppanen and Steen had strong WJC’s.

The surprise in the system is probably Swayman who has come out of nowhere. He leads Hockey East in save percentage as a Freshman. For what it is worth his WJC teammates Oettinger and Woll have .903 and .898 save percentages in the same league.

Cap Friendly has the B’s at 43 contracts. The second half watch will be on Donato, Sherman and possibly Frederic, though I think they let Frederic stay another year. Harvard is having a rather laksadaisical season and have drifted to 24th in the Pairwise rankings, so they are no sure thing to make the tourney. Especially since they are losing their best player to the Olympics.
 

RoDaddy

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Much appreciation for putting all this together! Swayman's (and Donato) numbers also jumped out to me and he's only a freshman! OTOH, can Vaakanainen be any more scoring challenged? I know that's the scouting report, but these numbers are even worse than expected
 

cshea

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I honestly wouldn’t read too much into Vaakanainen’s counting stats. He is 18 years old playing in a pro league against 30 year olds. I don’t have a TOI breakdown but I doubt he is getting much PP time. It is really hard to get a read on kids playing in the Finland and Sweden pro leagues without actually watching them, especially defensemen.
 

cshea

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Decent weekend around the farm.

McIntyre- 2 shutouts. Drags his save percentage up to .904 for the season.

Donato- Keeps rolling. 3 goals and an assist in 2 games. He has 20 goals in 19 games this season. Not sure how much time he has left at Harvard before joining the national team for the Olympics. Has to be fairly soon.

Frederic- 3 goals. 11-8 on the year in 26 games played.
 

cshea

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Frederic is getting hot offensively. 2-4=6 in 2 games this weekend.

Beanpot is tonight. Donato and Sherman are the only Bruins prospects playing, and I’m not sure if Donato is still with Harvard. He played on Friday, but I would imagine he’d be joining the Olympic team pretty soon. Maybe tonight is his last game before joining the US team.
 

veritas

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Donato just had a very nice assist.

First time watching him this season, but his skating seems improved. It's still not great, but it's less of a red flag. His skill with the puck is off the charts though. Really interested to see him playing on olympic ice against men.

Fun fact: if he joins the Bruins this season, he'll only be the 6th youngest player on the team. 8th youngest if JFK and Zboril get called up.
 

cshea

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Donato had an assist in the opening game loss for USA. Didn’t catch the game but most reports seem to be that he played well, at least until OT.

Apparently on the broadcast Pierre said Donato could go from the Olympics straight to the Bruins. Looking at schedules, the earliest USA could get bounced is 2/20. Harvard’s last regular season game is 2/24, but the ECAC playoffs are on 3/2. Seems unlikely he makes it back for the regular season, but I can’t imagine he’d leave his college team coached by his dad hanging in the playoffs. Harvard isn’t very good and are unlikely to make the NCAA’s.

I’m not sure he can jump in right away and contribute, but worth keeping an eye on. His arrival could factor in to their deadline plans for a acquiring a winger.

Edit: Donato’s line was 18:26 TOI, assist, 4 SOG. 2nd most ice time among forwards behind his line mate Mark Arcobello, who only played 18 more. Should get a decent read on Donato’s ready-ness in this tournament. AHLish, maybe a bit lower, competition. But playing out of his age group.
 
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TheRealness

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I watched the game and he and Terry created a lot of chances. He looked good, but overall the team fell apart defensively in the third.

I don’t see him having a role on this year’s team. I think it’s far more likely he stays through the playoffs and jumps after to Providence.
 

j44thor

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Donato completely lost his man in OT on the GWG. Going to need some work on playing without the puck before he can jump to the NHL, esp middle of a playoff race.
 

Reardon's Beard

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Iggy skating on the third or fourth line with spot play on the PP unit or with the second line if skating well.

Seems worth a role of the dice to me. Especially if it means you can keep most of this team as is.
 

kenneycb

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He's 40 years old, had 27 points in 80 games last year, and is coming off of major surgery. I guess it can't hurt to give him a look over the last 5 or so games but I'm more inclined to believe he's cooked.
 

TheRealness

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He's 40 years old, had 27 points in 80 games last year, and is coming off of major surgery. I guess it can't hurt to give him a look over the last 5 or so games but I'm more inclined to believe he's cooked.
I agree with Kenney here. I don't want him disrupting our current 4th line, and while I don't think it's a bad idea to kick the tires, I just don't see him being able to help.
 

cshea

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I posted it in the trade deadline thread, but the timeline doesn’t align for Iginla. He’d have to sign by 2/26 to be eligible for the post season. There’s no chance they sign him in less than a week, and he’s not getting a contract after 2/26. He’s not even on an ATO right now with Providence, he is literally just practicing with them.

Best case for him, if he feels up to it, is some sort of ATO in the AHL (Probably not even Providence) for the rest of the year and then see if he can turn that into a 1-year NHL deal on July 1.
 

Dropkick Izzy

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Would it be that much of a financial imposition to sign him? Any difficult roster moves required?

If he feels / looks good, it’d be nice to have the low cost (i.e. non-prospect) upside, particularly if another big add isn’t in the cards.
 
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cshea

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Would it be that much of a financial imposition to sign him? Any difficult roster moves required?

If he feels / looks good, it’d be nice to have the low cost (i.e. non-prospect) upside, particularly if another big add isn’t in the cards.
No, it’d probably be a 1 year, pro-rated vet minimum contract. It wouldn’t be hard to fit him.

I just don’t know how much he has left and where he’s at coming off a serious surgery. If they really wanted a vet winger, I’d probably prefer Gionta. He’s been practicing all year and has games under his belt.
 

TFP

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It's Donato's world, we're just living in it.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced he becomes their "deadline pickup" on forward. I didn't think that a week ago.