Constructing Bruins roster: Can Zach Senyshyn make the jump in 2019-20? taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

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Constructing Bruins roster: Can Zach Senyshyn make the jump in 2019-20?

By Conor Ryan

Jul 22, 2019 • 7:58 pm

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With the dog days of the NHL offseason now upon us, we’re going to spend the next couple of weeks taking a deeper dive at a number of players on the Bruins’ roster (or on the cusp of a roster spot) who could make a major impact on the club’s hopes of putting together another Cup run.

Here are our previous breakdowns of B’s players this summer: 

Part 1: F Danton Heinen
Part 2: F Peter Cehlarik
Part 3: F Charlie Coyle
Part 4: F Anders Bjork

Next up, let’s take a look at one of the B’s most intriguing prospects in Zach Senyshyn:

Player: Zach Senyshyn
Age: 22 (turns 23 on March 30)
Position: Wing
Height/Weight: 6-foot-1 / 192 pounds
2018-19 Stats: (NHL) 2 games played – 1 goal, 0 assists, 11:36 ATOI / (AHL) 66 games played - 14 goals, 10 assists

Career In Review

It’s been an interesting couple of years since the Bruins brought a raw but promising winger in Senyshyn into the fold over four years ago. One of Boston’s three first-round selections in that infamous 2015 NHL Draft (in which the B’s passed on the likes of Mathew Barzal, Thomas Chabot, Kyle Conner and Brock Boese — you get it by now), Senyshyn’s selection at No. 15 overall drew the most questions when it came to the Bruins, given the fact that TSN projected the winger to go out out of the first round entirely at No. 40 overall. 

While his ceiling as a dynamic NHL forward was called into question, there was certainly quite a bit to like about Senyshyn’s overall game — given his strong frame and impressive set of wheels. 

The forward used those tools to impose his will against the competition down in the OHL in the years following 2015, with Senyshyn tallying a combined 87 goals over his final two seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. 

While harping on scoring totals in the CHL — in which players match up against skaters aged 16-21 — can be a bit deceiving when it comes to equating that production to success in the pro ranks, Senyshyn certainly had plenty of momentum on his side when the time came to jump up to Providence in 2017. 

But upon making the jump to the AHL, Senyshyn 



hit a wall in terms of effectiveness in the offensive zone, tallying just 12 goals and 26 total points over 66 games in his first full season with the Baby B’s in 2017-18. This past year yielded much of the same results for the forward, who buried 14 goals and 24 points over another 66-game stretch in ‘18-19. 

While his scoring plummeted when compared to his OHL totals, Senyshyn’s efforts under Jay Leach to round out his overall game down in Providence did have its merits — with the forward eventually getting a call up to the NHL in the final week of the 2018-19 regular season, as most of Bruce Cassidy’s regulars were prescribed rest with the Stanley Cup Playoffs right around the corner. 

Senyshyn made the most of his short stint with the B’s, scoring an empty-net goal against the Minnesota Wild on April 4 before logging 10:30 of ice time in a bottom-six role against the Lightning on April 6. 

While the two games were mostly an afterthought with the postseason approaching, it was a good start for Senyshyn, who, prior to his call-up, was one of just two players selected in the first round of the 2015 Draft that had yet to play a game up in the NHL. 

(The other player, Capitals goaltender prospect Ilya Samsonov, had played the previous three seasons in the KHL before signing with Washington in 2018-19). 

"That's what separates him," Cassidy said of Senyshyn’s speed. "Look at the last goal, he pulled right away, his first couple chances he beat guys to pucks. I thought he was as advertised." … When he won pucks he was willing to go to the net, make good plays with it, got his shot off in a hurry. 

“I know he got an empty-net goal, but he had three or four good chances before that. As your first, you’d always like to tell the whole world you went through the whole team and went bar down, but this still works for him.”




Expectations for next season


As one of the “Black Aces” that tagged along with the Bruins throughout the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, Senyshyn continued to earn valuable experience alongside other promising skaters like
Jack Studnicka, Trent Frederic
and
Urho Vaakanainen
— an assignment Cassidy hoped would allow the next wave of B’s players to attack the summer and subsequent training camp with a renewed drive.


"I think it helps them, they're around a real good hockey team,” Cassidy said of the youngsters playing with the club during its intrasquad scrimmage ahead of the Cup Final. “Maybe a Studnicka who hasn't been around this group in a long time, Freddy has been up and down,
Paul Carey,
he's a little older, Zach came up late another opportunity for him to play against good players, Vaakanainen hasn't been here in a while really. I think it's good for those guys to see these guys how they work.”


He may not draw as much fanfare as a Studnicka or perhaps even an
Oskar Steen
at this point, but one has to figure that Senyshyn will be in the mix when it comes to seizing one of the vacant roster spots on the wing come September. 


As you can see, it’s certainly a crowded field for Senyshyn to parse his way through, especially with the additions of players like
Brett Ritchie
and the return of fellow youngsters like Bjork. 




Still, especially when it comes to a bottom-six role, Senyshyn has the tools to be a solid, two-way contributor — a role that may not thrill those still expecting larger returns from a player selected 15th overall, but in line with what the Bruins are now expecting from a player like Senyshyn at this point in his career. 


While he will never be a 30-goal scorer as his stats might have alluded to down in the OHL, Senyshyn’s ability to be both throw his weight around, scrap down low and use his speed to both move the puck up the ice and potentially log minutes on PK shifts certainly has plenty of value if he can continue to hone his craft. It can be a slippery slope to start throwing out comparisons, but when Leach tabbed Senyshyn as a “grinder” up in the NHL level when asked of his potential last September, he noted that
Brad Marchand
faced a similar role in his first year in the NHL, starting off as a fourth-line pest before becoming the scoring juggernaut he is now. 


Now, that’s not to say that Senyshyn is not going to start sniping pucks over goalies in the NHL if given a 20-25-game sample size, but given the tangible tools he does possess — whether it be that plus-speed or poise with the puck — the winger does have the potential to mold into a solid, bottom-six NHLer in due time, and should get plenty of looks during the preseason. 




While such projections may not translate right away come October, especially with the amount of bodies in front of him on the depth chart, it wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if Senyshyn gets the call at some point in the mid-season if his game continues to take shape — and
on the wing follow Marcus Johansson’s absence. 


Preaching patience in what will now be Year 5 in Senyshyn’s development with the Bruins may seem like a chore given his draft status that he’ll never be able to shake, but with the winger on the cusp of another call-up and now in the final year of his entry-level contract, the onus will be on Senyshyn to finally put it all together this winter. The clock is ticking, but the potential is still there, even if it's waned a tad. 

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