While excitement builds for new season, Bruins’ top brass & players must deal with disappointment that comes with roster cuts

Jack Studnicka was resigned to his fate as the media swarmed around him at TD Garden on Wednesday night. 

Just a few hours removed from taking a puck square off the mouth, Studnicka’s visage (with stitches and missing teeth galore) might have stated otherwise, but the 20-year-old was pleased by the effort he put forward in what stood as his third preseason bout of the month. 

After all, that puck ricocheted off of him and into the New Jersey Devils’ net, standing as his second goal of the preseason. 

Still, the writing was on the wall for Studnicka in terms of cracking a spot on Boston’s roster — given that the Bruins already boasted an embarrassment of riches at the center position. 

“I think I've put my best foot forward so far,” Studnicka said. “I think I've got a lot more to show still. It's one of the deepest rosters in the NHL, so if I do go down to Providence this time, a 20-year-old kid playing pro hockey? I'm not going to hang my head.”

Heading down to Providence was far from the ideal scenario that Studnicka envisioned at the start of September, but his response to the impending demotion helped lessen the blow in what is usually an uncomfortable — but necessary — conversation that Bruins’ upper management must have with every young player that didn’t quite make the cut out of training camp. 



While the likes of Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen, Oskar Steen, Zach Senyshyn and many more intriguing youngsters entered the preseason with their sights set on cracking the roster up in the NHL, only one player in Boston’s prospect pipeline remains with the club as of Tuesday morning — defenseman Jakub Zboril. 

And while the 22-year-old defenseman will likely not travel with Boston on its season-opening road trip, his inclusion in Boston’s main group this deep into the preseason served as a positive message sent by the Bruins’ coaching staff to a young skater still looking to round out his game. 

“He’s been rewarded a little bit,” Bruce Cassidy said of Zboril. “I thought he had a good training camp. We wanted to make sure we got through the weekend, everyone is healthy. Looks like our D is good. Jakub is here in practice, hopefully learn some good habits, play against high-end players.”

Many other players are not so fortunate to hang around with the big club as the calendar turns to October. And while those meetings can sometimes turn sour given the “reality vs. expectations” nature of said conversations, Cassidy admitted that this latest crop of B’s prospects didn’t put up too much of a battle.

“Donny (Sweeney) and Jamie (Langenbrunner) and Chris Kelly now go through a lot of those discussions. I talk to the players a little bit. The feedback was mostly positive. There’s a few guys that are always a little bit disappointed, but I thought some of them had good answers and self-analyzed well — thought that they didn’t have a good enough camp to stick around. 

“If we feel that, the player feels that, then it’s always easier to move forward. Like Vaakanainen, he’s a little disappointed in his game that he wasn’t to have a better (camp). … Sometimes you like to hear that as opposed to, ‘Well I should be on the team, I’m a first-round,’ whatever the story is. I thought they were pretty honest with their assessments.”

The one player with perhaps the biggest bone to pick was Anders Bjork, who had good reason to push back after standing out as one of Boston’s most impactful forwards during the preseason. 

Still, as Cassidy was quick to point out, sometimes it can be encouraging when a player feels as though they did everything they could to push for a spot. Sometimes, other factors (health, roster space) can stand in the way of simple production when it comes to determining a youngster’s status going into the regular season. 

“That one was a little more — he felt that he played as well as most forwards did here,” Cassidy said of Bjork. “I mean we walked him through the situation on our team. It's not just about taking the 12 best hockey players, it’s who fits where. He was good as well, and I was glad that he pushed back a little, because he should.

“He played well for us and we just think the best thing for him, and I talked about it before he even started camp, that he should round out his game and now that he’s got some details into his game that might’ve been lacking when he got here, let’s get the offense going, feel good about scoring and consider yourself a guy that can score in the league. Where that slots him in is to be determined.”

For players like Bjork and Vaakanainen, all it might take is a bite from the injury bug or a strong week or two against AHL competition to get that call from the top brass and a bus ride back up from Providence. 

But for others further down in the pipeline, the road back to Warrior Ice Arena can be an arduous one. Many a regular in the Bruins' locker room knows that feeling of being a year or more away from a legitimate shot at the NHL — and do whatever they can to help the next wave of talent navigate the rough waters of the AHL. 

“They have my cell phone, they can reach me at any time if they have questions," Patrice Bergeron said. "It’s not always easy, especially at a young age, to come into this league and having to go through the process of being up and down and having to develop and grow as a player but also as a person. Having the older guys who have been there is always useful and that’s what we’re here for."