He only logged 13 games of pro hockey by the tail end of Bruins training camp, but Trent Frederic wasn’t lacking in confidence when discussing his chances of cracking Boston’s lineup in late September.
"That's why I decided to leave college early — to play in the NHL,” Frederic said before the start of the 2018-19 campaign. “I'm going to give my best whack at it and work as hard as I can. At the end of the day, I'll go to sleep, do it again and whenever they think it's time for me to get a chance, that's what I'll do. I'm going to try to make it as hard as I can for them to not turn me down."
It took a bit longer than the 20-year-old forward hoped, but Frederic is now set to be the latest candidate to take the reins of a Bruins third line that has struggled to find its footing for most of the season.
The Bruins’ decision to flip-flop Frederic and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson in their respective spots in Boston and Providence will provide a bit of a different flavor to Boston’s third line.
While Forsbacka Karlsson saw his stock rise in the B’s prospect pipeline thanks to his refined, skill-centric game, Frederic tends to keep things a bit simpler — using his 6-foot-2 frame to bully teams on the forecheck, cycle the puck around and cash in on chances down low.
It’s a bit of a departure from the “Kid Line” of Forsbacka Karlsson, Danton Heinen and Ryan Donato, but keeping things simple might be the best course of action in order to get the B’s latest lineup combination buzzing.
Frederic’s skillset might not jump off the page quite like some other promising forwards in Boston’s system, but the bruising center seemed to be a natural fit for the Bruins. So much so, that the organization reached a bit in the 2016 NHL Draft, selecting Frederic with the 29th overall pick — despite the fact that he was ranked 47th overall in the NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of North American skaters.
It didn’t take long for Frederic’s potential as an effective power forward to manifest at the next level, with the forward tallying 32 goals and 65 total points over two seasons at Wisconsin before inking an entry-level contract with the Bruins last spring.
Upon getting sent down to Providence at the start of October, Frederic went through the expected learning curves that come with a young skater’s first full season of pro hockey — a challenge made even more arduous when a concussion sidelined him for over three weeks.
“I took a little check to the head,” Frederic said. “That was my first one, so I didn’t really know, I’ve never felt that before, so I thought, maybe a week (out) and it was a little longer. Just took it back slow and I didn’t really come back in stride."
Even with injury and growing pains, Bruce Cassidy was candid when discussing the organization's plans for Frederic this season.
“There was a plan all along at the start of the year to take a look at him at some point,” Cassidy said. “We didn't know when that point would be, some of that would be how are the guys doing here and then there was an injury that set him back a little bit. He’s healthy, playing well now.”
Sure enough, the opportunity presented itself after this past weekend, with Frederic notching a pair of goals and adding a helper in a win over Charlotte on Friday. In total, Frederic has notched 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his last 12 AHL matchups — a large enough sample size to warrant a trip up to Boston.
My top three #AHLBruins goals of week 16. With my first goal star of the week I selected the first-period goal from Trent Frederic which was the first of two on Friday night against the Checkers. Watch Szwarz track the puck down and make the tip pass to Frederic for his 9th of YR pic.twitter.com/dqgQo6mjJW
— Mark Allred (@BlackAndGold277) January 27, 2019