Ahead of Jack Studnicka’s season debut with Boston on Sunday afternoon, Bruce Cassidy pushed back at the notion that the 22-year-old pivot needed to augment his game depending on where he was slotted in the Bruins' lineup.
If the Ontario native lives up to his potential, Studnicka has all the makings of a dynamic center that — with the right personnel around him — can drive a second or third line.
Studnicka’s wheels have allowed him to develop into a lethal penalty killer down in Providence, but the 2017 second-round pick isn’t just a home-run hitter in terms of his offensive acumen or overall skillset.
The reason why Studnicka found himself in Cassidy’s good graces for most of the preseason — even though he was unfortunately one of the final cuts from the NHL roster once camp wrapped — was his adherence to the finer details of his game and overall two-way capabilities.
And whether it be thrust into a playmaking role in Boston’s middle-six group or assigned to grunt work on the B’s checking unit, Cassidy doesn’t believe that Studnicka’s mentality has to change all that much.
“His role is he needs to play good, two-way hockey, no matter what. I mean, we’re not going to ask him to be a physical presence all of the sudden," Cassidy said of Studnicka. "Be hard on pucks, play a 200-foot game and add a little tenacity to our lineup in terms of puck pursuit, second effort — he was good at that.
“Whether he plays with Freddy or Kuhly or moves up on the wing, he shouldn’t walk through the door and think, 'Well I gotta play this game now or that game.' He should just play his game, which is he was hard on pucks, he was playing in straight lines, making simple plays, getting to the net, complementing whoever he was with."
Of course, Studnicka’s mindset may not change in terms of which line he’s on — but the opportunities presented to him sure seem to vary a great deal when looking through that same lens.
And on Sunday afternoon, the stars were aligned for Studnicka to finally take off the training wheels and earn some regular reps with high-end talent.
With Craig Smith ruled out due to injury and Charlie Coyle slotted to the wing, Studnicka seemed like an obvious candidate to at least share some minutes at 2C with Tomas Nosek — who impressed when promoted to that spot during Friday’s win over Buffalo.
Even though Nosek’s defensive capabilities, veteran status and solid returns against the Sabres might have given him the edge over Studnicka, a Sunday matinee with a rebuilding club like the Sharks (I don’t put much stock into a 4-0-0 start) sure seems like a prime chance for a youngster like Studnicka to cut his teeth in a role that Boston hopes he can seize down the road, especially once the franchise takes those first uneven steps in the post-Bergeron era.
And sure enough, Studnicka did earn some reps with Coyle and Taylor Hall on Sunday. A whopping 18 seconds of 5v5 ice time.
With the Hall-Nosek-Coyle line largely intact for Boston’s 4-3 win over the Sharks, Studnicka was primarily entrenched as the pivot on the B’s checking line — logging just 11:10 of total ice time.
The development of Studnicka’s two-way game has been a positive development, but the young forward was saddled with some daunting assignments on Sunday — with just 20 percent of his faceoffs at 5v5 play coming in the offensive zone.
The foot soldiers assigned those draining D-zone shifts and tasked with slowing down the opposition are essential to a club’s overall success. But for a player with Studnicka’s potential, sticking him in such a spot — especially with top-six reps up for grabs during this window due to injuries — seems to be clipping his wings by negating his strengths on the ice.
From Cassidy’s perspective, those taxing shifts in Boston’s own end can only benefit Studnicka as he learns the ropes of the NHL game.
“He was fine. He was battling on face-offs. They need to learn that part of the game if they want to play,” Cassidy said of Studnicka. “I don't like to constantly be 'Oh, here comes a good player over the boards, I gotta have Bergy -', you know what I mean?' These young kids got to learn to play against good players. It doesn't have to be every shift, every night for 82 games. But they have to be comfortable. You know, whether it's 2-3-4 times a night, 'Hey, here comes (Logan) Couture's line, you got to dig in, they're a threat to score.'
“You got to be careful you don't put them in positions to fail. But they should have some confidence if they get out there, because that's what happens on the road, right? You're gonna see tougher matchups if the other coach wants to expose those young guys, so you don't want to be a 15-minutes-a-night player at home and then eight (minutes) on the road, right?
“I think that becomes a challenge. So we're just trying to build those things into their game if they can handle it. And I think Jack is better prepared to handle that. ... So this is a little bit of the 'Hey, this is what you got to do to stay on the ice, stay in the lineup,' and then we'll see where it goes."
It remains to be seen if Studnicka will slot back in at 4C (or anywhere in the B’s lineup) on Wednesday against the Panthers — especially if Curtis Lazar gets the green light to return to game action.
If such a scenario does play out in which Studnicka is the odd man out on Wednesday, it’d be another tough pill to swallow for a prized prospect who has yet to earn an extended opportunity to prove his worth in a middle-six role.
Now, let’s say Smith was cleared to return on Wednesday and Cassidy wanted to reunite the Hall-Coyle-Smith grouping. If that was the case, Studnicka getting penciled into the fourth line (or out of the lineup) would at least be a bit more palatable.
But with Nosek currently standing as the stopgap option, you wonder just what Studnicka is thinking at this point in terms of what else he needs to do to earn quality minutes on this club.
Is Studnicka a surefire building block for the future on this Bruins club? Honestly, we can’t say at this point.
And we won’t know for sure until the Bruins let him remove the floaties and swim to the deep end of the pool.
At this point, he can’t keep treading water.
OTHER NOTES
Lazar’s potential return on Wednesday is good news for a Bruins team that could use his two-way game down on the fourth line. And it’s a welcome relief for Lazar — who very well could have been on the shelf for a much longer stretch had things not gone his way in his recovery from an elbow injury.
“My arm bent one way it wasn’t supposed to,” Lazar said Tuesday.
While rest and rehab were enough to get Lazar over the hump from his injury and back on the ice, he did note that going under the knife looked like a possibility at one point — which could have sidelined him for a much longer stretch.
“Very close to that,” Lazar said of the surgery. “Very fortunate to avoid that. A lot of credit to the training staff here as well for helping me get back ahead of my timeline. Again, those are the things where you make the best of a bad situation. The season could have been gone. But here I am a month later. And I am excited and thankful and I'm looking forward to contributing to this team.”
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Cassidy announced that Craig Smith will sit out of Boston’s next two games against Florida and Carolina. Linus Ullmark will make his third straight start on Wednesday against the Panthers, while Jeremy Swayman will start Thursday against the ‘Canes.