Cam Neely: Bruins Have Made Decision On David Pastrnak
The Boston Bruins played some lackluster hockey for a few months, but they've come alive recently with four straight wins and points in eight straight games.
One newcomer who's played a major role has been 18-year-old David Pastrnak, the talented Czech whom the Bruins drafted in the first round of the 2014 draft. With four goals in the last two games, Pastrnak has looked exceptional, and he's certainly made a strong case to stay on the roster.
But keeping Pastrnak in the NHL comes with a consequence: If he plays in one more game after Thursday's against New York, he'll burn a year off his entry-level contract. The Bruins could send him to the AHL for the remainder of the year and keep that year of the contract intact.
It's a somewhat difficult decision for the Bruins, and president Cam Neely told Felger & Mazz on Thursday afternoon that the decision has been made.
He just wasn't willing to elaborate on what that decision is.
"Yes, there has been a decision made," Neely said.
Tony Massarotti dutifully followed up: "And what is it?"
"We'll announce that soon enough," Neely said with a laugh.
Mazz then asked: "Why would you send him back?"
After a few seconds of silence, Neely said, "Listen, there's … that's a good question, Mazz."
Clearly unwilling to delve into the decision at all, Neely was asked if the Bruins need to adapt their system to fit talented players like Pastrnak. Considering Tyler Seguin showed great promise, only to get traded away at a young age, does the organization need to allow for some players that are more offensive than defensive?
"How many games has he played for us so far? Let's have a longer sample size before we start projecting where David may or may not be with us," Neely said, adding that the team sent him to Providence earlier in the year with some specific things to work on, most of which involved protecting the puck. "It's not just about that particular makeup of a player. There's other elements of a player that we look to, not just is he a three-zone player, is he strong defensively or his he just strong offensively? There's other makeups of a player that we look to to say, 'Are we going to win championships with this type of player?'"
Overall, Neely said that Pastrnak has proven to be coachable thus far.
Listen to Neely's full conversation below:
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