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Arriving home from a four-game road swing that saw the Boston Bruins win just once (though they were
in most of the losses ‘til the bitter end), and in the middle of a four-day layoff between games, the B’s have sent 2014 first-round pick
David Pastrnak back down to the Providence Bruins.
But whether or not this is the end of the 2014-15 line for Pastrnak remains to be seen, though.
From
Bruins.NHL.com:
"Long term plans are still being decided," Sweeney had said. "So we will continue to monitor his overall development, including any potential fatigue due to the more condensed schedule, and we will re-visit what is best for David and the Bruins periodically."
"David retains the option to return Sweden to play but he has really embraced the opportunity to play pro here with the intent of progressing and adapting more quickly to an NHL style of play," Sweeney said.
"Both opportunities would have continued to help with his development but we feel fortunate that he has decided to stay because the communication and reinforcement of habits, on and off the ice, will likely accelerate his adapting to the smaller rinks and the strength of the players in North America."
In the now, returning Pastrnak to the American Hockey League makes sense.
Given the Bruins’ break, returning the 18-year-old to the minors for the P-Bruins’ two-game set against the St. John’s IceCaps on Dec. 9 and Dec. 10 would let him, simply put, play. That’s great for both Pastrnak, who was a healthy scratch in the B’s last contest, and a Providence squad currently without both Ryan Spooner and Brian Ferlin up front. Contributing at the AHL level has been a breeze for the Czech winger, too, with Pastrnak tallying five goals and 18 points in 17 games for Providence this season.
That two-game stint in Newfoundland would allow Pastrnak to return to the Bruins for Thursday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, too. (If that’s part of the club’s plans for him, obviously.)
At the NHL level, the 5-foot-10 winger has bounced around a bit through his five-game tenure with the club.
He began his B’s career as part of all minor-leaguer line with
Jordan Caron and
Alexander Khokhlachev against the Pittsburgh Penguins two weeks ago, but has since bounced around the lineup for the Black and Gold. He’s most notably played on the right wing of Boston’s second line with
Patrice Bergeron and
Brad Marchand, skated with
Chris Kelly and
Matt Fraser, and even skated on a power-play unit with Marchand and
Milan Lucic.
The results-- Zero goals, one assist, and 14 shots (seven of which came in one game, too). He hasn’t lit the world on fire as a teenager (do they ever?), but the situation he’s stepped into obviously hasn’t been the best.
Ideally, Pastrnak’s introduction to the Hub would have come with
David Krejci feeding him the puck and with Lucic on his opposite wing to ‘protect’ him a bigger, stronger league than he’s accustomed to. But with Krejci out of action since Nov. 18 (he’s skated in just two games since Nov. 6), and with Lucic providing the muscle with the Swedes on the makeshift first line most of the time, Pastrnak’s been shuffled throughout the lineup. And since Day One, head coach
Claude Julien has tried to understand what he has with Pastrnak. He’s acknowledged the fact that Pastrnak can’t really contribute if he’s logging fourth-line minutes for the Bruins, and that they had a short window to determine whether or not he can play in Boston this year.
In fact, the Bruins have just four more games of a ‘sample’ with their 2014 first rounder.
If he plays in a tenth game, then this’ll count as year one of his three-year entry-level contract. And that, above all else, is why you could see Pastrnak spend some more time in the minors.
It’s fairly obvious that the B’s would like a few games of Pastrnak with Lucic and Krejci (if possible) before they make a decision as to whether or not No. 88 gets a full-time stall in the Boston locker room, and if that’s true, there’s really no sense in wasting more of his nine-game trial with guys that.. well.. aren’t Krejci or Lucic. Maybe they want to see that later this month (if Krejci continues to progress). Or maybe they let Pastrnak suit up for the Czech Republic at the World Juniors Championships in Canada and then give it a go. Or maybe they realize that they can’t bank on an 18-year-old to solve their offensive woes and let him spend the rest of the year in Providence or back with his pro team in Sweden (Sodertalje).
Though he possesses some otherworldly skill with the puck, it's clear that the Czech-born winger needs a complementary talent like a Lucic or Krejci to open the ice up for him, and that's just one of the growing pains the Bruins and Pastrnak will have to grow through together. He's not a gamebreaker just yet, and he might not be for another season (or maybe even two), and his impact on the 2014-15 Bruins could come down to just how desperate/offensively-challenged they are and whether or not they can find a solidified opening on the top-six for him.
If there’s one thing the Bruins will preach with Pastrnak, though, it’s patience. This team learned the hard way when it came to mishandling
Tyler Seguin’s rookie season -- a year spent mainly on the fourth line and as a healthy scratch through much of the postseason -- and don’t want to be in another situation where they burn away a precious entry-level year for a potential, non-guaranteed fix on the wing.
When it comes to Pastrnak, the Bruins have options. And there’s not too many guys they can say that about.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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