By: Mark Allred | Follow Me On Twitter @BlackAndGold277
The American Hockey League Providence Bruins announced this afternoon that the top minor-pro affiliate of the National Hockey League Boston Bruins has signed former Western Hockey League forward Eli Zummack to a two-year AHL-only contract. The 21-year-old Zummack spent the last five seasons with the WHL Spokane Chiefs, where he posted 70-169-239 numbers in 254 career numbers in one of Canada’s top junior leagues.
Eli is a 5′-9″ 179-pound center from Kelowna, British Columbia, and was originally drafted in the second round by the Red Deer Rebels in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft. The folks at NHL Central Scouting had Zummack ranked 184th in his first year of NHL Draft eligibility. Zummack is a centerman with good acceleration, solid in the faceoff circle, and has shown impressive strength for an undersized forward.
In the 2019-20 WHL campaign with Spokane, Eli was selected to the West Second All-Star Team and led all players in the Western League with 64 assists in the same year. Zummack’s career year in points came in the mentioned 2019-20 season, where he posted 22-64-86 totals in 64 games.
This might be another sneakingly good free agent signing for the Providence Bruins as they’ve done in the past, most recently in acquiring Samuel Asselin and Alex-Olivier Voyer. Asselin led the QMJHL in goals with 48 as a Halifax Mooseheads member in his final year in the “Q.” Voyer led his Sherbrooke Phoenix and came in second in league goal-scoring when he had 44 in his last season in the Quebec league.
This signing could also be an insurance policy in case Providence management moves on from current players up the middle, such as Brendan Woods and Eduards Tralmaks. This could also be a move to address the vacant roster spot left behind from former two-year AHL Bruins captain Paul Carey who recently signed a one-year contract in the SHL with the Djugardens team.
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