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The Boston Bruins Top-5 Prospects

August 29, 2018, 12:15 PM ET [29 Comments]
Adam French
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The Boston Bruins are an interesting team in terms of drafting. I think by and large they have been one of the more successful teams in drafting and developing their talent. Chiapet trades aside, they have also done a great job at retaining said talent. They’ve had some misses like 2007 (who didn’t other than the Habs?), but you have to love 2006 and picking up Kessel, Lucic and Marchand. Not bad. Recently 2014 is looking very promising with Pastrnak already a star, Heinen having a fantastic rookie season, Bjork looking to be a player and their current top prospect (in my opinion).


This list gave me a hard time due to most of the Bruins’ best prospects are already on the team or have hit my 30 NHL game cutoff (Bjork). It’s also difficult because the separation from 3-10 is very negligible in my opinion. They have two A level prospects and then a glut of B‘s and C’s. Guys who have potential, but haven’t shown a ton of consistency.


1. Ryan Donato – Centre/Left Winger, 6’0 181lbs, 22 Years Old, 56th Overall, 2014, Harvard University in the NCAA

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The past two seasons have seen Donato rise the ranks of potential prospects more than anyone. It’s uncanny. His game has evolved at an exponential rate and now he finds himself usually in the top-10 of prospects in the league…or at least Pierre McGuire’s list. He started off as a very risky prospect. He was drafted out of the US High School system which is always a bit of a gamble, but even more so after he decided to stay another season in High School after being drafted. That’s very rare for top prospects. The theme from what I gather is that Donato is very adamant about his academic success. That’s why he stayed in Prep-School and ultimately went to Harvard and did his homework on the plane between Bruins games.

He was one of the best players in the NCAA and the Olympics. Though the Olympic competition was a bit of a sham if we’re being honest with ourselves. In 12 games with the Bruins, he hit the ground running with an impressive 5 goals and 9 points. He was less impactful in the playoffs where he was less trusted and benched more often than not, but that’s to be expected from a guy who just came out a college a month previously.

Donato has great speed, very smart reads and a game more tailored to the NHL. Very straight forward which I think will serve him well going forward. In the NCAA, Donato was often used a centre, but played wing when first brought to the Bruins and during the Olympics. It’s hard to say if Donato’s future is at centre this early on, especially given the comfort he showed on the wing. Very interested to see what Donato can do in his true rookie year. Was the small sample size smoke and mirrors? Or is he going to ride that wave to Calder discussions?

Potential : Top-6 Goal Scorer

2. Urho Vaakanainen – Left Defenseman, 6’1 185lbs, 19 Years Old, 18th Overall, 2017, SaiPa in the Liiga

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In his second full season in the Liiga, Vaakanainen (bloody Finns!) showed maturity beyond his years that has become arguably the best part of his game. His calm and methodical approach. He plays very much the “modern” defenseman style of puck possession, strong positioning and fast skating transitioning. While not bereft of offensive talent, he lacks the dynamism to be the “go to” guy in those regards. He’s a very hard to play against defender though and I imagine that when he transitions his game to the NHL it will be more in the mold of a Hampus Lindholm or a Jonas Brodin style of defensive defenseman with the ability to move the puck when they need to. With over 100 games as a professional player at just 19 years old, it speaks a lot about his maturity and defensive abilities. He’s a player coach’s trust which really comes through when he plays internationally for the Finns and takes up a lot of the defensive assignments.

Despite very little power play time, Vaakanainen put up a respectable amount of points for an 18/19 year old. Third on SaiPa in points by a defenseman. Next season he is expected to play for the Providence Bruins in the AHL, as well as make his third U20 appearance should the team allow him. Given his style of play, I would expect to see him in a Boston jersey in the next two years.

Potential : Top-4 Mobile Defensive Defenseman


3. Jack Studnicka – Centreman, 6’1 172lbs, 19 Years Old, 53rd Overall 2017, Oshawa Generals in the OHL

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The Bruins took the minor risk in the second round on a player who was relatively undersized and buried by the depth of a previous contender trying to re-tool. Studnicka entered the 2017 draft at 6’0 154lbs, extremely lanky and very underdeveloped for a prospect in today’s age of hyper training. I’d imagine they were impressed by his brief U18 performance where he scored 3 goals in 3 games for Canada. As well as his fantastic end to the season where he was promoted to the top line after the trade of Cirelli (Tampa). He had a massive playoff run scoring 5 goals and adding 15 points in 11 games.

This past season Studnicka was named the Captain of the re-tooling Generals and had a very successful season as their top centre. He led the team in points with 72 in the regular season and the playoffs with 5 in their first round loss. He was the leader on a team filled with a lot of inexperience and youth. It speaks well to his character. He plays a very “pro style” game, a lot of relentless energy and crease havoc. He’s the type of guy that is always around the net. He’s strong the dot and plays in all situations for his club. He had a very small taste in the AHL after the Generals season was ended and he put up a very impressive 5 points in those 5 games.

This upcoming season the Generals look to be a potential contender for the OHL Championship. A lot of their youth that were drafted this past year will improve with age and they’ll have a 19-20 year old Studnicka who will likely have the best OHL season in his career. Mostly due to playing with Nando Eggenberger (get hype)

Potential : Second Line Special Teams Centre


4. Trent Frederic – Centreman, 6’2 205lbs, 20 Years Old, 29th Overall, 2016, University of Wisconsin in the NCAA

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Frederic is a bit of a wildcard here. His draft year was just okay for a prospect expected to be picked out of the first round, but he capped it off in style with a very strong U18 performance (7p in 7gp). His stock flew up the following season after a fantastic rookie year in Wisconsin where he finished second on his team in goals and points with 15 goals and 33 points. He was the Rookie of the Year which is fairly significant as the previous winners recently were Kyle Connor, Dylan Larkin and J.T. Compher. Despite leading his team in goals and finishing second in points this year, a lot of NCAA writers said he didn’t take the necessary leap forward.

At the U20’s he played fairly well as the second line option behind the dynamic Mittelstadt (Sabres) and scored 5 goals in the 7 games. I liked his chemistry with Yamamoto (Oilers) and his willingness to shoot from anywhere.

At the end of the season he played 13 games with Providence and decided to go pro after just 2 seasons in the NCAA. He scored 5 goals and 8 points in the brief sample. Though he was torched in the playoffs and showed some inexperience.

Frederic is a solid skater and a smart shooter. I like his ability to find himself open and get into shooting lanes. Shot first centremen tend to be a bit of a rarity in the NHL as they’re usually demanded to control the play rather than be the finisher. So it will be interesting to see if they continue to develop him as a centre in the AHL. I expect next season he will play a sheltered role in Providence behind some of the more advanced prospects who are still blocked out by the depth the Bruins have on their NHL roster.


At the end of the day I think you could put Studnicka or Frederic at number 3, it’s a coin toss for me. I like how far Studnicka has come and the familiarity as I’ve gotten to see him play live against the 67’s. Both are solid, but not “can’t miss” prospects.

Potential : Second Line Goal Scoring Centre


5. Peter Cehlárik – Left Winger, 6’2 203lbs, 23 Years Old, 90th Overall, 2013, Providence Bruins in the AHL

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I’ve always been a believer in Cehlárik, going all the way back to his draft year. He had a fantastic U18 that year and played extremely well domestically in Sweden. He would follow that year with incremental growth in the Elitserien as a pro player and good U20 showings. His rookie season in the AHL as a 21 year old was a success. He had 20 goals and 38 points in 49 games. The third highest PPG on his team. He has had a cup of tea with Boston these past two seasons and will likely be one of the first call ups if he doesn’t make the team out of camp.

He’s a solid 5vs5 contributor who plays a fairly straight forward game. He scored 58% of his points at even strength and wasn’t given a lot of the prime PP time which was eaten up some of the more veteran forwards on the club (Czarnik, Szwarz and Agostino). He’s not a volume shooter, but does like to put the puck on the net, especially from around the circle. He’s a decent puck protector and will throw a hit or two when he can. The only thing I can see that might hinder his ability to translate his game to a bottom-6 scoring role is that he isn’t the fastest player around. One of the reasons guys like Heinen and DeBrusk passed him on the Bruins depth chart. I can see him ending up being a 15 goal 30-35 point third line producer sooner rather than later.


Potential : Bottom-6 Scorer


Thanks for reading.
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