Why the Boston Bruins Traded Jack Studnicka to the Canucks

When you consider the Boston Bruins once considered Jack Studnick to be a center of the future for the team, that they traded him on Thursday to the Vancouver Canucks might come as a bit of a surprise. But, if you look at how his progression has tailed off and the struggles he’s had over the past couple of seasons, perhaps it’s not that head-scratching a move after all.

As first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Canucks acquired Studnicka from the Boston Bruins in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg. Bruins’ head coach Jim Montgomery commented on the move and said of the team trading Studnicka: “I’m happy for him. He’ll get an opportunity.” The fact that this is where Studnicka is at now, following a period of time where he was being viewed as the right-shot center that looked like he could grow into a credible replacement for Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci is telling. As Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic writes, Studnicka “played with pace. He was creative. That season, Studnicka scored seven of his 20 goals on the penalty kill. Then something went sideways. Studnicka’s growth curve went in the wrong direction.”

When GM Don Sweeney was asked why it didn’t work for Studnicka, he responded that the pandemic year really threw his development off. “He just kinda stalled, and then it was up and down, in and out. No fault of Jack’s [end], maybe more fault on ours.”

When there were other centers who took his spot in the lineup, the Bruins asked him to play wing. It did not go well. “It’s really hard,” said Montgomery. “We’ve got four centers that are perfectly slotted. If a center gets hurt, we have Pavel Zacha who’s played there numerous games in the league.” But, what’s interesting about the timing of all of this is that the Bruins are now down two centers. Krejci was injured in the second period of Thursday’s 5-1 win over Detroit and he’ll be unavailable against the Blue Jackets on Friday. Zacha will move from wing to center and the team might need to call up someone from Providence.

As for the return, it’s hard to imagine the Bruins felt they needed to go out and acquire Michael DiPietro. The Bruins have two starting goalies and a few other options they can call upon if someone gets hurt. DiPietro was once viewed as a notable prospect, but things did not work out for him with the Canucks.

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