Bruins recall Urho Vaakanainen on emergency basis; Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller sent back to Boston taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

Bruins

Bruins recall Urho Vaakanainen on emergency basis; Charlie McAvoy, Kevan Miller sent back to Boston

By Conor Ryan

Oct 20, 2018 • 3:04 pm

0comment-bubble

With Boston’s blue line struck with the injury bug, the Black and Gold have delved into their prospect pool in order to shore up their defense.

The team announced Saturday afternoon that it has recalled 19-year-old Urho Vaakanainen from Providence on an emergency basis.

Vaakanainen, Boston’s first-round pick (18th overall) in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, notched two assists and fired 14 shots on goal through six games with the P-Bruins before getting the call-up to the NHL.

One of the B’s top surprises out of training camp, Vaakanainen actually opened the 2018-19 season with Boston before getting sent back down to the AHL on Oct. 5.

News of Vaakanainen’s promotion comes right after defenseman Kevan Miller did not play in the third period of Thursday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers due to an upper-body injury, with Bruce Cassidy noting postgame that Miller was injured while blocking a shot.

Both Miller and defenseman Charlie McAvoy were not on the ice for Saturday’s morning skate ahead of Boston’s matchup against the Vancouver Canucks — with Cassidy noting that both defenseman were sent back to Boston to undergo further testing. 

Here’s a quick look at the line rushes from practice, with Vaakanainen not out on the ice. He played last night in Bridgeport with the P-Bruins, so it will be interesting to note if he can even make it out to tonight’s game in time to bolster a banged-up blue line. 




BSJ ANALYSIS




As expected, it looks like a fellow right-shot defenseman in
Steven Kampfer
will be the next man up in place of Miller, who might miss some extended time after blocking a shot against the Oilers.


At first, the promotion of a left-shot D in Vaakanainen seemed a bit puzzling — even with his impressive stretch of play over the last two months — given the fact that Cassidy doesn’t usually roll out defensemen to play off their natural side.






“I didn’t have a big expectation from him, other than he was a first-round pick, so obviously he’s got talent,” Cassidy said. “He’s played against men, so that part of it — the physical intimidation that most young kids go through when they start playing against guys with beards and such. It takes a little bit to get over that hump and just play. We figure those two things, he’d already have. And he did.


“Adjusting to the smaller rink, the heavier forechecks, he’s done really well. I think that’s where he’s surpassed where I thought he’d be. And offensively, where he’s coming from, I was told that he didn’t have a lot of that, whether that was the team demanded less risk-taking or whatever. Not that he takes risks — but it seems to have a little bit of offensive acumen that maybe will come out over the years. Those are the things where he’s been better than anticipated.”


While Vaakanainen’s poise with the puck should give him a good shot on being an NHL regular down the road, the circumstances of this call-up obviously isn’t ideal for Boston, especially if McAvoy is going to miss some extended time with an injury.


McAvoy logged 22:04 of TOI during Thursday’s loss to Edmonton, recording an assist while finishing as a minus-1.  






Jaroslav Halak 
Tuukka Rask


Anders Bjork 
Ryan Donato, 

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
0
Show comments for this article