With the regular season now over for the Boston Bruins, they are officially moving on to the Stanley Cup playoffs and tidying up their roster after a couple of largely meaningless games at the end of the year. With that in mind, the Bruins have assigned young players Trent Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Anton Blidh and Jeremy Lauzon back to Providence where at this point they will ready for whatever AHL postseason awaits them.
The youngsters acquitted themselves well in the final few games as the Bruins regulars were being rested. Senyshyn scored an empty net goal in his NHL debut against the Minnesota Wild, Blidh threw a team-high six hits against Tampa Bay in the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon and both Frederic and Lauzon also threw the body around in that finale against the Lightning.
There’s a chance some of those players could appear down the line for the Bruins should injuries hit hard in the playoffs, and certainly many of them will eventually fill out roles as Black Aces should Boston advance far enough in the postseason. Others like Connor Clifton and Karson Kuhlman are carving out potential roles sooner rather than later with the Black and Gold in the playoffs, and looked very comfortable in the late season intensity of the regular season’s final weeks while providing great depth to the Black and Gold.
“The growth in his game has been very good. He’s a very competitive guy, so this time of year that’s one of the most important things and certainly an identity of our club. I think he’s more comfortable moving the puck, when to make a play, when to join the rush,” said Bruce Cassidy, of Clifton after he was mixing it up with Nikita Kucherov during Saturday’s loss to Tampa. “[He’s] certainly physical and will take an opportunity to finish his checks. This time of year that becomes, that increases with every team.
“I like where he’s at with his game. We’ll see when he gets in there how he responds, but as you know, most teams will go through a certain number of defensemen [due to injuries] if you have any type of run at all. I suspect we’ll see him at some point [in the playoffs].”
With John Moore expected to be injured to start the playoffs and Kevan Miller still a bit banged up after dinging up his right knee at the end of the regular season, there certainly could be a need for Clifton on the postseason roster sometime soon.
Kuhlman, as well, looked very good filling in as a top-6 winger on David Krejci’s line and kicked in a two-point game earlier this week against Columbus while making plays all over the ice defensively. It appeared that Cassidy and his staff wanted to get a look at Jake DeBrusk, Krejci and Pastrnak against Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon, so Kuhlman ended up playing on a different line instead with Danton Heinen and Joakim Nordstrom.
But once again he finished with six shot attempts in 12:48 of ice time, and made a play screening the goalie on Heinen’s goal in the first period.
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“Tonight, we put Krech and Pasta, so no, that wasn’t a demotion for [Kuhlman]. In fact, you might look at it the other way,” said Cassidy. “We have enough confidence in him because he’s played lots of minutes. He’s been good for us. Again tonight, [Kuhlman is] right in front of the net on Heinen’s goal. He does these little things that endear himself to his teammates and the staff.”
Both Kuhlman and Clifton do those things, and that’s why they’re still around in Boston as the Bruins get ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs with all depth hands on deck and ready for postseason duty.
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