One Bruins prospect eliminates another, and Jack Studnicka should be heading to the pros

UPDATE (Tuesday, 3:26 PM): Per Mark Divver, Studnicka will be in Providence in just a few days.

If Divver says it, it must be true. The original post continues below.

Right around the time the Bruins were making things hard on themselves by losing Game 3 to Toronto, a couple of their higher-end prospects were facing off in the OHL playoffs.

Ultimately, it would be Kyle Keyser’s Oshawa Generals eliminating Jack Studnicka’s Niagara Ice Dogs, as the Generals won, 3-2, to win the series in 6 games.

The Niagara loss means Studnicka’s junior career is over, which in turn means you should see him join the Boston Bruins organization relatively soon, perhaps even within the next few days.

In all likelihood, Studnicka will end up playing for Providence. The P-Bruins kick off their playoff slate on Saturday night at home against Charlotte. Game 2 is Sunday, Game 3 is a week from Wednesday, the Games 4 & 5 are a week from Friday and Saturday, if necessary.

There could be an argument made that you don’t want to take a kid from juniors and throw him right into the AHL playoffs, but he’s gotta learn somehow, right? Plus, he already has some AHL experience under his belt.

Of course, the Bruins could elect to do nothing and let him come to camp this summer well-rested and ready to go. However, that seems unlikely.

The wild card option: adding him to the NHL roster. I’m fairly certain that the Bruins would be able to do this, but I’ve been fairly certain about things before and ended up being completely wrong.

Throwing a kid like Studnicka into a series like this would be borderline insane, but if Marcus Johansson remains out, they might end up being desperate enough to do it.

Per EliteProspects, Studnicka finished this season with 41 goals and 53 assists in 70 games, including the playoffs. Those 70 games were split between Oshawa (the team that eliminated him tonight...awkward) and Niagara.

94 points in 70 games is uh...NOT BAD.

Studnicka signed his entry-level contract back in 2017.

Regarding the other Bruins prospect in this series, Kyle Keyser continues to impress. The 20-year-old goalie is 8-2-1 so far in the playoffs. He currently leads the OHL playoffs in GAA (2.09) and save percentage (.943).

His leads in those categories are significant too: his GAA is 0.20 lower than his nearest competition, while his save percentage is 0.11 higher.

It’s been a pretty good spring for Bruins prospects!