These Are the Players That Could Have A Breakout Season
The Boston Bruins are not in as much trouble as people think. If these kids can break out and make a name for themselves. All of the prospects the Bruins have in the system is what they have going in their favor. Who will we see in the big club this season? Maybe we will even see some become stars.
Frank Vatrano is a kid who has excellent potential but he has just not been able to put it all together. No one knows if it is just because he is not that good or if he is playing with the wrong people. I think it is that he is playing with the wrong people. He generally plays on the line with Ryan Spooner.
Now Spooner is not a bad player but I do not think he is the centerman for Frank. Frank needs a guy like Backes or Bergeron to feed him the puck. Vatrano is a shooter and shooters are going to shoot. Frank has one of the best shots that I have seen in a while, it is not his speed at which he shoots but his quick release. Similarly to David Krejci, Frank is a guy with a sneaky good shot, and get it off in almost any situation.
Vatrano has played in 83 career games with the Bruins over two seasons. In those two seasons, Frank has 18 goals and 29 assists. I say Vatrano is the dark horse for the Bruins this year.
Charlie McAvoy
Charlie McAvoy showed us in the playoffs that he is ready for the NHL Now. This kid has what looks like top 2 potential. However, let us keep in mind that he is only 19 and has only played 6 NHL Games. It very tiring hearing people say that this kid is the second coming of Bobby Orr. McAvoy is a very talented young prospect with a ton of potential. We should not put him on a pedestal and overwhelm him with crazy expectations. Just let the kid play hockey and wait to see what happens.
In his time here he played with Zdeno Chara and also has some time on the power play, and this is where he started to look comfortable. McAvoy has an extremely high hockey IQ and this is why he will be running the power play in one of the units, this is also why he is such a good defenseman.
In the six games, he played Charlie had 3 assists. Look for McAvoy to be apart of the top 4 most likely playing with Chara, as he would be the pick to have the best year.
After finishing his first full year with the team Brandon Carlo looks like he is ready to take an even bigger role on the team. This past year he took on a big role already by being paired with Chara as the teams first pair. This was a huge ask of a 19-year-old. He then went out and proved that he deserved that spot.
Carlo averaged 20 minutes of ice time during the regular season. Carlo is the opposite if McAvoy as not many people knew of him and his expectation from the fans was not as high. He is an excellent and very smart defenseman. I would say he plays more of a 2-way game with more concentration on the defense but he can still produce offensively.
Carlo skated in 82 games the last season and scored 16 points. He was also a plus 9. Look for Carlo to Fight for the number one pairing spot with McAvoy in Camp. Either way, The Bruins Top 4 is starting to look pretty good.
Anders Bjork
There is not much known about Ander Bjork other than he played at Notre Dame this past season. He also helped them get to the frozen four. Bjork is a great player from what has been seen from his play with the Irish. He is a goalscorer and that is what the Bruins need is offense. This kid can play but like McAvoy, he is still unproven at the professional level so we will have to wait.
Hopefully, he has a good camp and makes the big club which he most likely will. Bjork has all upside at this point and he is looking to prove that he is ready to play now.