PROVIDENCE, RI- The Providence Bruins’ season ended abruptly, leaving them and their fans with a lot of questions. It was an up and down season for both the Boston and Providence Bruins, with neither team able to get themselves out of the gate for most of the season. With many jobs in Boston open for the taking we will be seeing a lot of new faces for Providence.
Two players who already have locked in spots are David Pasternak and Ryan Spooner, both will be entering their first full season in the pros and will look to have a major impact for the big club this season.
This means that the P-Bruins will have to find some new talent in their young rookies, one of those rookies could be Jake DeBrusk.
DeBrusk had a strong showing during the Bruins’ rookie camp and even scored a highlight reel, behind the back goal. But DeBrusk is only 18 and the Bruins will most likely send him back to his juniors’ team along with fellow 2015 first rounder Zack Senyshyn. With last season’s leading scorer Alexander Khokhlachev having a shot at making the big club, they will need to look to other players like Seth Griffith to pick up the slack.
Griffith had a rough season last year missing games with injuries throughout the season, while he played thirty less games then the season before he was still able to score 31 points.
One area that the baby Bruins should feel confident is their defense; they will most likely be losing Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman as they make the jump to the pros. But they will most likely be getting back David Warsofsky who has spent time in the NHL and AHL in each of the last two seasons and will be looked to as a leader for a young defensive core.
They have also added Colin Miller who came over in the Milan Lucic trade with the kings, Miller was one of the Kings’ top prospects and a very good puck-moving defenseman. Miller will also bring some playoff experience to Providence because he won the Calder Cup last season with the Manchester Monarchs.
Finally is the battle for the starting goalie position Malcolm Subban looks like he will be the opening day back-up for Tuukka Rask, which leaves Jeremy Smith and Zane McIntyre to battle it out for the starting role.
Smith will likely be the day one starter after splitting the goaltending duties with Malcolm Subban last season. McIntyre on the other hand will have to adjust on the fly if he wants to stay on the baby Bruins this year and become the everyday back-up for Smith. While they will probably have their ups and downs this season, they should be able to be a competitive team.
We all know anything can happen over the course of the AHL season. But as of right now the Providence Bruins look like they are in good shape and could be one of the teams to beat down the stretch.
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