Kalman: Playoff Experience, Positive Development For Bruins' Prospects In Providence
BOSTON (CBS) --The postseason run didn't last long for the Providence Bruins, but at least the Boston Bruins' American Hockey League farm team earned bragging rights on the parent club just by qualifying for the playoffs.
The P-Bruins' run came to an end last week in a 3-2 overtime loss to Hartford in the final game of the best-of-five opening-round series. Four of the games were decided by one goal, and a fifth was decided by two goals after an empty-net score by Hartford in Game 1.
Providence made the playoffs for a second straight season after it had missed for three straight years. Although the result was disappointing, the experience should be invaluable to several of Boston's top prospects, and even the depth players trying to earn NHL deals with the P-Bruins.
"Making the playoffs, it was a challenge for us until the end," Providence coach Bruce Cassidy said in a phone interview this week. "So that was good. Because there was a time there I think we were 14th in our conference, or down the ladder a little bit. Some of that obviously has to do with injuries, call-ups, all that. We got through it. So I was proud of the guys.
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"And then the playoffs came and all of a sudden it seemed like we had a full roster, which we hadn't had all year. So to lose in the first round is disappointing in that regard. You know you summarize the series, it could have went obviously either way. They were a good team as well. A three and a six-seed, I think we were pretty close. It could've went either way. They got home ice and I think that mattered. But I think we were pretty equal teams and they were one shot better, it went to overtime. I believe we were good enough to keep playing in the playoffs."
Over the course of the season, Providence had to deal with the loss of Ryan Spooner, Zach Trotman, David Pastrnak and others because they were called up to Boston. When those three players in particular returned to Providence for the postseason, it was expected to provide a boost. But Pastrnak was injured during the Hartford series – a lower-body injury that probably wouldn't have kept the player from playing in the next round, according to Cassidy – those plans were scuttled.
Spooner had four assists in the five-game series. Two forwards Providence relied on during the stretch run also came up big, as Seth Griffith led the team with five points (two goals) and Alexander Khokhlachev had two goals and one assist.
A lot was made of former general manager Peter Chiarelli's poor drafting record. And there's no way to sugarcoat the lost drafts of 2007, 2008 and 2009. But Providence's ability to succeed in the face of adversity spoke to an improvement in the talent pipeline through drafting players and signing free agents, whereas before the past two seasons those types of reinforcements weren't available. And heaven forbid the Boston Bruins didn't get the contributions they received from Spooner, Pastrnak and even Griffith during the regular season, it's scary to think how much farther back of the pack the Bruins would have been in the Eastern Conference.
But with big names going in and out of the lineup throughout the season, Providence persevered.
"Some of them are guys down the lineup. And I think you talk to most American League coaches that are in our situation, where you have limited veterans – I mean we had two guys like that and we picked one of those up during the year – you need that. You need your guys that start at the bottom, when you lose your [Ryan Spooners] of the world, [David Pastrnak], [Craig Cunningham], [Griffith], whoever's going up, [Zach Trotman] or [Joe Morrow], [David Warofsky], you need those guys to step up so they're ready to go," Cassidy said. "And I think that's part of the coaching staff's challenge to get these young guys that aren't playing to keep them on board when they do get their chance to get going. So we saw that with [Brian Ferlin] and [Andrew Cherniwchan]. Some of them are American League deals, [Corey] Kane. Other guys we had were [Ben] Sexton and [Tyler] Randell. Terrific second halves. Now Sexton was out, hurt his ankle, but still he might've been a down in the lineup guy to begin with. By the end of the year, those guys were good contributors for us. They may not fill the scoring sheet, but they played good minutes, big minutes, against good players."
Cassidy was proud that Providence played .700 hockey in the second half to finish the regular season 41-26-7-2. The bitterness of the playoff loss didn't ruin his perspective on a season of improvement for the team as a whole and individuals, some who will be back next season and some who will be making a major push for a NHL job. Spooner finally figured out what he had to do during his last call-up in 2014-15. Griffith, Khokhlachev and Morrow could be among those making their best case for a spot in the fall.
"So you know hopefully they go to camp in the right frame of mind next year, with that in mind if the competition is available to them," Cassidy said. "Even whether it is or isn't, they should be thinking that they've put in their two years and they need to kick down the door a little bit. I think the American League guys, they need to have that attitude to make the big club. You've got to go in there with a little bit of a chip on their shoulders. It's that, 'hey, you know what, I'm good enough and I'm going to go in there and earn a job or take a job, or whatever it is.' It's not too many times you get one handed to you when you're an American League guy. You need to go earn it. So that's a message we'll try to send them. And I think guys have done that."
Cassidy got brief looks a free-agent signee Austin Czarnik and 2013 second-round pick Linus Arnesson at the end of the season. They could be difference makers next season if they need more AHL seasoning. Players like Czarnik and fellow college free agent Frankie Vatrano were signings Chiarelli made to continue to make up for his draft drought from last decade.
Although a lot has been chirped toward the Bruins about their lack of young, cheap players to fill out their lower line combinations and defensive pair, they might actually have plenty of those type of players for the next couple seasons. That might be Chiarelli's parting gift to the Bruins. The new general manager's more urgent task might be to acquire higher-end talent or to figure out how to get more out of the Bruins' higher-priced players.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
