Bruins camp report: Cassidy finding 'some similarities' between Jack Studnicka and a younger Patrice Bergeron

It remains to be seen where exactly Jack Studnicka fits into the Bruins’ lineup this summer. 

In a perfect scenario, the Bruins likely wouldn’t even need to press the 21-year-old forward into service, with top-six fixtures like David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase pulling their weight as offensive spark plugs — with young NHLers in Anders Bjork and Karson Kuhlman serving as added insurance.

But given Pastrnak and Kase’s murky status after missing a majority of Boston’s Phase 3 workouts, don’t be surprised if Studnicka earns himself an extended look in exhibition and round-robin play once Boston makes the trek up to Toronto on Sunday.

Like most younger players on Boston’s roster, the extended break caused by COVID-19 hasn’t saddled Studnicka with much rust, with the B’s top prospect impressing on the ice at the club’s Brighton facility — especially when allowed to turn on the afterburners during odd-man rushes.

Still, while Studnicka's offensive skillset might feature a bit more panache than some of Boston's other forwards, he might be at his best operating down low. Even with his limited time up in the NHL ranks, Studnicka has developed a nose for the net — sacrificing a pair of teeth during preseason action after deflecting a shot off his face (and into the net) while entrenched near the opposing crease.

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1177003010532225032

Even with a small sample size with Boston during the regular season, Studnicka's willingness to recover pucks down low and hover around Grade-A ice often allowed the Bruins to consistently generate quality looks when he was out on the ice — with Boston holding the edge in goals scored (2-0) and high-danger scoring chances (9-1) during Studnicka's 22:10 of 5v5 ice time.

The Bruins will need to take a longer look at Studnicka during actual game action before giving him a definitive shot once playoff hockey officially commences, a scenario that could be easily play out, especially if Pastrnak and especially Kase are either sidelined or slow out the gate.

"We're gonna have to see how he performs on the wall with D pinching down on him," Cassidy said of Studnicka. "Will he have the composure to to make a play when he has time or the strength to get it out when he doesn't, or tie it up? So I think those game situations will dictate that. ... But I like his compete. I like the fact that he's engaged in practice every day, looks like he's very fit. So that part of it, just the initial (impression), does not look out of place and actually looks pretty good in some of the drills. So that's the start, that's step one — is to show that you can belong, and then hopefully, excel against the guys that he's competing against. Time will tell with that in the next 10 days or so."

Still, based on the initial eye test, there's a lot to like about Studnicka's game — far beyond the expected hype that comes with the highlights of him carving up opposing OHL and AHL defenses out on open ice.

For Cassidy, what stands out about the Tecumseh, Ontario product is his already refined approach toward carrying out the smaller details of the game — a trait shared by another Bruins pivot with a slightly more extensive resume, to say the least.



While Cassidy was not around during Patrice Bergeron's first few seasons down in the AHL and NHL, Boston's bench boss does find plenty of similarities in how the B's assistant captain and Studnicka go about their business on the ice.

"I think it's a fair comparable in terms of how they play right now," Cassidy said when asked to compare Studnicka with a younger Bergeron. "Like Bergy, he's good at everything, but he's not this flashy guy. And I do see that with Jack. He's a second-effort player, never quits on a play, can make plays, smart, work both ends of the ice. I think Bergy's shot is obviously ahead of Jack's and rightfully so. Jack's going to have to work on that part of it. I'm sure Bergy did as well over the years. Some of that has to do with getting stronger, some of that is knowing the league. A quick release is paramount if you want to score goals.

"Bergy started in the league as a right winger. Jack may have to do that, I don't want to project — but when you look at Bergeron, Krejci, Coyle, Kuraly, Lindholm, we're pretty strong down the middle, so that might be an opportunity for him to make our team on the wing. So he learns a different part of the game. I'm going to say there are some similarities at the same age. Listen, I hope he turns into the next Bergy, that'd be great for the franchise, would be great for the individual. It'd be great for us as coaches because he's second to none in terms of a player and a person. So if that happens I think the Bruins will be in good shape for the next 10 years."

Of course, there’s a very wide gap when it comes to translating expectations/comparables to tangible production up in the NHL ranks — of which Cassidy is well aware when it comes to assessing Studnicka's potential ceiling as Boston's next franchise center. We've got a long way to go before projecting just how well Studnicka could potentially follow in Bergeron's footsteps in the coming years. But as far as building a template for success, Studnicka can't go wrong with emulating a player of Bergeron's pedigree.

"Bergy is one of the smartest, if not the smartest player in the National Hockey League. So we're gonna have to wait see how that plays out for Jack," Cassidy said. "I do believe he does have an excellent IQ — does it translate to the NHL level? Time will tell. But yeah, some of the similarities are there. He's a kid that's willing to work on this game. Bergy's obviously done that. Will people gravitate toward him and can he lead like Bergy? Those are always intangibles you don't know down the road. And until you have a guy in your locker room, I don't want to speculate on that right now. He's got to find his spot in the National Hockey League first and then worry about some of the other things."

OTHER CAMP NOTES: 

Once again, the Bruins were missing a few regulars at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday, with Pastrnak and Kase still not present in one of Boston's final skates before heading north of the border. Nick Ritchie was also not present for the skate, while both Charlie McAvoy and Joakim Nordstrom returned to practice without any limitations.

Here's a look at what lineup the Bruins rolled with on Thursday morning:

Marchand-Bergeron-Bjork
DeBrusk-Krejci-Studnicka
Kuraly-Coyle-Kuhlman
Nordstrom-Lindholm-Wagner
Blidh/Carey-Frederic-Senyshyn

Chara-McAvoy
Krug-Carlo
Grzelcyk-Lauzon
Moore-Clifton
Vaakanainen-Zboril

Rask
Halak
Vladar
Lagace

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Bruins get started on special teams:

For the first time in Phase 3, the Bruins focused on special-teams work out on the ice, with Krejci replacing Pastrnak on Boston's top power-play unit. Even without their top finisher in No. 88, the Bruins' man advantage still looked pretty crisp, especially with Torey Krug and Brad Marchand operating at their usual spots near the blue line and along the half wall.

While the netfront option on PP1 is not set in stone, Jake DeBrusk earned the first look on Thursday, with Charlie Coyle slotted over to PP2. Along with some of the usual suspects like Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy on the second unit, Anders Bjork skated at the netfront, while Studnicka served as the "bumper."

"Obviously Pastrnak will go in where Krejci was today, we've moved DeBrusk and Coyle from netfront, so today was Jake," Cassidy said. "Obviously, with a full complement of players, Krejci would go on the other group with Grizz and McAvoy and Coyle would be in there at netfront —and then we'd have to decide is it Richie, is it Kase in the lineup? Today we had Bjork netfront, we had Studs in the bumper, he's played down there in Providence. So we figured we'd give them a look. Then on the flip side of that, we also wanted our killers killing — guys like Kuhly, Lindholm, Wagner, Kuraly, Nordy, so we weren't going to use them on the power play, because they got to start getting their work in as well on the kill. So worked out well for both sides."

Release the Kraken: 

The NHL's 32nd franchise finally unveiled its name and sweaters on Thursday — with the Seattle Kraken staking their claim up in the Pacific Northwest.

https://twitter.com/NHLSeattle_/status/1286334190439395330

While I was always more partial to "Sockeyes", I have no complaints with what we've seen so far from the NHL's new club — especially when to comes to the new logos and color schemes. It seems like merchandise is already flying off the shelves, especially anything with that nifty Space Needle/Anchor secondary emblem.

https://twitter.com/mikepfeil_/status/1286331446047596544

All things considered, hats off to the NHL and the Kraken for generating considerable hype with this unveil — moreso than the much more mixed reveals with the Golden Knights' sweaters a few years back.

https://twitter.com/Sportsnet/status/1286378811370741760

Getting another pro sports team up in major market like Seattle is great news for the league and NHL fans in general, although it's not going to take very long for the Kraken to serve as a thorn in the side of the rest of the league, as they noted in their new Twitter bio.