The Boston Bruins (15-12-1) had forward David Pastrnak listed as a “healthy scratch” last night against the (10-15-3) Phoenix Coyotes. Only appearing in five games this season, registering one assist, he has looked “ok” in his time, while Bruins management evaluate him. There has been speculation the the Bruins will “soon” be sitting down to discuss his future, and a great chance of relocating him to further his development in a lower-level league, where he can play with his tremendous skill against players his own age. Added body muscle will be necessary in his development in the future against already established National Hockey League Talent.
Julien on Pastrnak: “eventually we’ll have to make a decision on him… whether we think he can develop here more than somewhere else”
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 6, 2014
Julien continued: “So that part of it will certainly not be my decision, more than it will be a group decision with management” — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) December 6, 2014
In his time with the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League, he has appeared in 17 games, and is second on the team with 5-13-18 totals, and is a team leading plus/minus of +12.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien had this to say when asked if the “jury-was-out,” on forward Pastrnak “I think the reason he was up here [with us] is that we wanted to have a look at him, and there’s a lot that has to be taken into consideration here,” said Julien. “Like, he’s only an 18-year-old, so is he better suited to stay here? Is he better suited to go back to Providence or wherever the upper management decides? I think there’s a lot of things that have to take place here.” also saying “But we’ve seen some good things from him — exciting player, he’s got good speed but he doesn’t have the experience right now, and there’s times too where guys are stronger and he’s probably not quite as strong as the rest of the group. So a rest doesn’t hurt him either, and so on and so forth. So I think eventually we’ll have to make a decision on him, whether we want to keep him or not, whether we think he can develop here [in the NHL] more than somewhere else. So that part of it will certainly not be my decision, more than it will be a group decision with management.”
Julien was asked if the 18-year-old was overwhelmed, “No, he hasn’t been overwhelmed,” said Julien. “I don’t think he’s afraid — he goes into corners, he goes into the traffic and all that stuff. The thing is, for younger players sometimes, it’s how do you get on the inside? These are strong players in this League, and you take LA for example — how big they are on the back end — he didn’t shy away from anything, but at the same time, it was hard from him to get on the inside and get into great scoring areas, and you get that from experience.” “You learn, you find ways, and you work on getting stronger, and Dougie Hamilton was the same way when he came here as an 18-year-old. He was 6-foot-5, but he wasn’t strong enough and it was a challenge for him. Came back the next year stronger, and again this year even stronger than the year before. So you’ve got to allow young players to grow and to develop into the person that or the player that you want him to be, and that doesn’t happen overnight.”
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