After a quick recall, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson will have to find his game up in NHL ranks

The reasoning seemed sound when it came to Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson’s most recent assignment to the Providence Bruins.

The next man up in Boston’s pursuit of a stable pivot to solve the secondary scoring woes that have plagued the club all season long — Forsbacka Karlsson was counted on to bring his reliable, two-way game up to the big club after close to 70 games in the AHL over the last two seasons.

Through nine games with the Bruins, “JFK” chipped in a pair of goals while seeing time both on the third line and up top with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

But the one area of his game that always seems to hamper the promising forward up in the NHL — falling into lapses of tepid play — continued to creep back into Forsbacka Karlsson’s game with the added reps.

Sure, Forsbacka Karlsson more than had his hands full in his last two outings with Boston — primarily matched up against two of the top centers in the game in John Tavares and Sidney Crosby.

But Forsbacka Karlsson’s effectiveness in the offensive zone was largely muted, even though 70 percent of all of his zone starts were in the offensive zone.

Forsbacka Karlsson doesn’t project as the next Patrik Laine, of course, but the center only landed three shots on goal over 106 minutes of ice time — with plenty of that TOI starting in the opposing team’s zone.

Before getting demoted from the top line during Boston’s loss to Toronto on Nov. 26, Forsbacka Karlsson and Boston’s top wingers took a beating against the Leafs’ big guns — with Boston posting a 30.00 Corsi For Percentage when both JFK and Pastrnak were out on the ice together (4:57 TOI).

Meanwhile, Forsbacka Karlsson’s bread and butter was also stuck in a rut, with the center only winning 33 percent of his draws at the faceoff dot.

Given the inconsistent play — to coincide with getting tabbed as a healthy scratch for back-to-back games following the Toronto tilt — it didn’t come as much of a surprise when Boston opted to send Forsbacka Karlsson down to Providence on Sunday to work on his craft.

But after just one game back with the Baby B’s, JFK found himself back up with Boston on Monday morning, taking part in morning skate and joining the club for its upcoming road trip down to Florida.

It hasn’t been an easy transition at times for Forsbacka Karlsson up in the NHL ranks, but given Boston’s drought of tangible talent at center, the onus is on the 22-year-old skater to get back on track up with the Bruins — no small task for a still-developing forward.



Following Monday’s morning skate, Bruce Cassidy noted that the reasoning for Forsbacka Karlsson’s demotion to the AHL the previous afternoon was just in order to keep him fresh after sitting out the last two games.

“Once he didn’t play Saturday, we wanted to keep him playing. I understand he played well down there yesterday. We were going to bring him back,” Cassidy said. “We’ll see what our lineup looks like tomorrow, not going to promise that he’ll be in or out, but we wanted to get him a game if he wasn’t going to be playing here Saturday. … It's important that he keeps active.”

In a perfect world, Forsbacka Karlsson would be given a window to hone his craft against lesser competition down with Providence — a luxury that Boston has been able to provide to struggling wingers like Ryan Donato and Anders Bjork already this season.

But given an injury to Patrice Bergeron that will sideline the star for at least three more weeks — along with failed auditions for regulars like David Backes and Sean Kuraly as the third-line pivot, Boston can’t afford to keep a player with Forsbacka Karlsson’s talent down in the AHL right now, even with his current struggles.

Boston’s other options at center seem exhausted at this point, barring a trade or other major move. Colby Cave is already up with the club as Boston’s new stopgap on the top line, while injuries have limited Trent Frederic to just 14 games so far this AHL season, with the physical center returning to game action with Providence on Sunday after missing the previous eight contests.

Czech forward Jan Kovar skated with the Bruins last week after leaving his PTO deal with Providence (10 points in 12 games), but the playmaking center wasn’t spotted at practice on Monday and has not signed a deal with Boston — paving the way for a likely return to Europe for the former KHL star.

Given the circumstances, Forsbacka Karlsson looks to be the next man up for the Bruins —  ready or not.

"Well, I try to not to get distracted by all of these kind of things,” Forsbacka Karlsson said of what has been a tumultuous week. “I just try to, whenever I do play, just try to play my game, and just try to focus on that.”

Citing a poor “compete” as the reason for Forsbacka Karlsson’s demotion against Toronto, Cassidy has been blunt at times when discussing the young center’s deficiencies as he learns the ropes up at the NHL level.

Having to cut your teeth against some of the top players in the world isn’t how Forsbacka Karlsson likely envisioned his first extended foray into the NHL, but the young forward is taking it all in stride.

At this point, it’s not like the center has much of a choice.

“You always want to play. That’s why we do this,” Forsbacka Karlsson said. “It’s always tough not playing. … “That’s always an ongoing conversation. Just what are the things you need to do better and what are the things you need to improve on.”