Bruins notebook: Jack Studnicka gets his shot at center

Jack Studnicka is widely regarded as the Bruins’ best prospect. It is also pretty clear that there has been no room on the Boston roster for the centerman at his natural position, with Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Charlie Coyle and Sean Kuraly creating perhaps the team’s top strength.

As such, Studnicka has been trying to learn a new trade at wing, both in Boston and down with Providence, with varying degrees of success. But on Sunday night, thanks to a Krejci lower-body injury, Studnicka was to get a chance to play in his comfortable spot in the middle of the ice between Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk.

Studnicka embraced the opportunity to play in the NHL whether it was at wing or at center, but was looking forward to Sunday night’s chance to play the pivot.

“It’s been a little bit of a challenge learning a new position,” said Studnicka prior to Sunday’s game against the Flyers in Stateline, Nevada. “Obviously I’ve been a centeman pretty much my whole life, but it was fun getting to learn a position like that and being able to compete and learn the game from a different viewpoint. I thought I was getting better every game, every time I touched the ice playing right wing. But I’m definitely excited to be back in the middle of the ice. Hopefully we’ll have some success. I think we have a really fast line, so I’m just excited to be back in my natural position and hope things go well.”

While the B’s depth at center has created a road block of sorts for Studnicka, he’s also got a wealth of knowledge at his finger tips that should benefit him for years to come. Studnicka seems more than willing to tap that well.

“With Bergy and Krech, they’re obviously both gifted offensive players, but the thing that stands out for me is they’re always taking care of the defensive zone first and really driving their line, playing a 200-foot game, doing all the things a centerman should do. Two great examples I have in front of me, so it’s really exciting I get to learn from those guys every day,” said Studnicka.

Strong tutelage is part of the the organization’s succession plan, as coach Bruce Cassidy explained. The B’s did it with Zdeno Chara with Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy, with Kevan Miller and Matt Grzelcyk and with Bergeron and Brad Marchand taking David Pastrnak under their wings.

Bergeron and Krejci are great resources for a player like Studnicka.

“They’re the ultimate pros, so (Studnicka can learn) how to prepare to play and practice and (he can) just talk to them about their off-ice habits. They’re obviously at different places in their lives, Bergy and Krech have young families and Jack really doesn’t. Still I think there’s a lot that can be learned from those discussions,” said Cassidy. “But it would be predominantly on-ice, bouncing back from a tough shift or playing against certain types of opponents in the National Hockey League, how good guys’ sticks are.”

Vaakanainen gets a taste

Urho Vaakanainen, the B’s first-round draft pick in 2017, was seeing his first NHL action of the year on Sunday after what Cassidy felt was a strong training camp, abbreviated though it was. His contractual situation — Vaakainen is still waivers exempt — made him the logical choice to be the odd-man out on defense, but Cassidy liked what he saw.

Cassidy wasn’t concerned that Vaakanainen would try to do too much in his opportunity on Sunday, but hoped he’d be able to find his game on the big stage.

“For him, it’s to be consistent at what you do best every shift,” said Cassidy. “It’s to try to defend well while having a good stick positionally while using your feet. Protect the middle of the ice. Sometimes he got drifting wide in the past. So hopefully now being over in North America a while that’s not an issue. And then move the puck to the appropriate player. Usually your first option is your best option. Then get up the ice when you can. I thought in camp he was as good as (Jeremy) Lauzon and (Jakub) Zboril. We could only put two of them in the lineup because (Grzelcyk) was definitely going in. There’s a lot of different reasons as to why we picked the other two, but those were the two that went in. But knowing in the back of our mind that Vaak was that close, that he came ready to play at camp, was good for us.”

Cassidy soaking up the atmosphere

The slushy afternoon ice conditions was the dominant story line on Saturday, but the atmosphere in the Lake Tahoe area was terrific, said Cassidy, who got a kick out of the boaters out on the water.

“Interesting touch. I’ve never been here so I didn’t know what to expect in that regard. I guess I was like some people thinking the lake might be frozen to be honest with you,” said Cassidy. “But to see boats out there, it’s awesome. You’ve got the mountains in the background, people walking over to the ski lifts. I saw someone swimming in a pool the other day. So you’ve got a little bit of everything, guys in their kayaks. It reminded me of San Francisco with the home-run balls. I don’t know if any pucks made it out there or not (Saturday). But good for them. They’re in the spirit of it. That’s what you want, people getting into it. Again, it’s a new experience. I thought it was great once it got going. Obviously, no one likes to see a postponement, but those are the elements and there’s nothing you can do about. They got back at it and I think the players probably had a very enjoyable experience once they got to play.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2MbI4Vf