Boston Bruins Monday Prospect Update Week Ending January 30th, 2022

By: Dominic Tiano | Follow me on Twitter @dominictiano

An injury to defenceman Ryan Mast during a 4-3 shootout loss to the Owen Sound Attack on Friday, January 22, has kept him out of the lineup since. The Sarnia Sting officially call it a lower-body injury. Mast fell awkwardly on his leg and ankle, and it did not look good. You could see him grimacing in pain immediately, and the fall looked ugly.

There is no word from the Sting on how long he will be out of the lineup, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Mast. His steady improvement at both ends of the ice has been noticeable. He was working hard on his skating, especially his agility, and any length of time off his skates will surely impede that.

Mast, who models his game after Bruins defenceman Brandon Carlo, was selected with the 181^st pick at the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Sixth-round picks rarely find their way to the National Hockey League, so this pick had some intrigue with it. Should he reach his full development, he could find a spot in the NHL.

Of course, with the lost 2020-2021 Ontario Hockey League season due to the Pandemic, there is no way of knowing how his development would have gone from year one to year two and now onto year three. There is a section missing on his developmental curve chart, and you can’t just fill in the blank.

The Sting coaching staff have relied on Mast in different situations. He can eat big minutes and finds ways to reserve his energy for extended periods. He is often one of the first over the boards in key defensive situations. He is also one of the first over the boards for penalty-killing duties. As I stated earlier, you can’t fill in the evaluation gap from a (lost) season ago, but the improvements from the start of the year are evident, and that is a good sign.

What I have said a few times here still stands true: It’s difficult to get a read on any offensive potential he might have. But there too, signs of improvement from the start of the year are evident. Mast is getting some quality powerplay time. He’s making plays, seeing the ice well, setting up teammates, and using his hard shot from the point. He’s also reading plays and finding ways to get into open space and jumping up, making himself an option for teammates. It’s all pointing in the right direction.

The Bruins have yet to sign Mast to his entry-level contract, and there isn’t any rush to do so. Boston does not have to sign him until June 1, 2023, or he would re-enter the draft. He’s not eligible for the American Hockey League until the 2024-2025 season, so there is no rush unless he were to make the big club, and I don’t see that happening next season.

But because the contract would slide when he returns to the OHL for the 2022-2023 season and would not affect the 50-contract limit, I could see the Bruins inking Mast to a deal sooner rather than later if they see him as part of their future. And I believe they do.

Here is a look at the Mast injury.

WARNING: Some may find it difficult to watch.

More and more people are jumping on the Oskar Jellvik bandwagon, as they should be. But let’s clear one thing up. Whether it’s a radio station jumping on that bandwagon and writing an incorrect piece, or whether it’s on Twitter tweeting incorrect information, I feel the need to clear this up. And I wrote about it at length back in December, so I won’t bore you too much with it.

Back on December 12^th, Jellvik’s Djurgardens IF J20 team played in its 27^th game – the halfway point of the season. Those games were against all the other teams in the Norra (North) Division. So, when you see someone mention, “Jellvik is up to 11 goals and 14 assists in 23 games,” that is old news. Since then, Jellvik’s team has been playing in the Top-10, which includes the top 5 teams from the Norra Division and the top 5 teams from the Sodra (South) Division. The remaining 10 teams in the country play in the Forts, with the top 6 teams advancing with the top 10 to make up the 16 teams that will play an elimination tournament to see who captures the Anton Cup.

If HockeyDB is your go-to source for statistics, you have to take note that it is not up to date. If you prefer Elite Prospects, they are, as always, up to date. However, they combine Jellvik’s stats for the entire season. Here, I like to separate them because the Top-10 comes against the other 9 best teams in the country while the Norra Division’s 9 other teams are not always the best competition, and I like to separate them to see how he’s doing in the countries best-on-best. If you don’t like checking back here, then the best place for stats is from the J20 Nationell, who also split up stats from the Top-10.

Providence Bruins Player Stats

Providence Bruins Goalie Stats

Maine Mariners Stats

Coming up this week:

AROUND THE GLOBE

WHO’S HOT:

Mason Lohrei is on a 4-game point streak with 1 goal and 4 helpers. He is currently second in scoring for the Ohio State Buckeyes, sixth among all NCAA defensemen, and first among Freshman Defencemen.

WHO’S WARM:

Jack Becker had a goal and two helpers on Saturday and has a goal and 4 assists in his last 5 games. He has already set career highs in assists and points and is one goal shy of matching his career-high in goals.  

Fabian Lysell was pulled from the roster prior to Kelowna’s 6-0 beating of his Vancouver Giants in what the team called “a non-covid related illness.” Lysell leads the team in scoring, and the trading of Justin Sourdif hasn’t hurt his production. But the Giants, who are clinging to the seventh spot in the Conference, need Lysell more than ever.  

It took Dustyn McFaul 22 games to score his first goal of the season, and now the blueliner has 2 in his last 5 games. His offensive game hasn’t developed as hoped, but the Junior’s defensive game is coming along fine.

Trevor Kuntar has 2 goals and 4 assists in his last 9 games. The sophomore has surpassed last season’s totals in assists and points and has equaled his goal output.

Riley Duran has 5 goals and 5 assists in his last 10 games. The freshman is fifth in scoring for Providence and continues to play an important role for the team.

Quinn Olson has 2 goals and 3 assists in his last 6 games. Currently third in scoring for Minnesota-Duluth, he is challenging for the team lead.

WHO’S COLD:

Linus Arnesson is pointless in 11 games. That is the longest pointless streak of the season among these Bruins prospects.

Matias Mantykivi and his Ilves Tampere squad’s games were postponed due to the pandemic.

Ryan Mast missed 4 games due to his leg injury. Two of them were postponed due to the pandemic.

Brett Harrison scored his first goal in 9 games on Sunday. He is on a 3-game point streak on 1 goal and 2 assists and has 1 goal and 4 helpers in his last 7 games.

Follow me on Twitter @dominictiano