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Every year, the Bruins (and every other NHL team) have a handful of players who make appearances here and there but don’t quite become regulars.
We didn’t want to simply ignore these guys, but it’s also probably not a great use of time to give them in-depth season reviews.
Instead, we give you...The Incompletes!
These are the players who had brief stints as Bruins, to varying degrees of success.
As you may remember, we informed you voters to consider giving a 5 to guys who were kind of “meh.” A 5 could be considered average, or it could be considered “not really sure.”
That will inform some of the rankings you see below. Overall, don’t put a ton of thought into them — no offense to these players, but they’ll all be hoping to have a little more data for us to share in 2022.
Anton Blidh
- 10 GP, 1G, 0A, 1PT
- Readers: 4.0
- SCOC: 4.8
Blidh had his customary handful of appearances in 2021, and as he has done in the past, he did fine.
Blidh is a decent fill-in on fourth-line duty, as he plays with a bit of an edge and is reasonably reliable in that you have a general idea of what you’re going to get.
His average TOI decreased by 45 seconds over last season, which isn’t a huge drop, but is significant when you’re averaging around 10 minutes.
Blidh has already been signed for 2021-2022, and will likely spend time split between the AHL and NHL.
Jack Ahcan
- 3 GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS
- Readers: 4.3
- SCOC: 5.0
Ahcan was never really meant to make an impact at the NHL level last season, so the fact that he got at least a taste of NHL action can be viewed as a positive.
He played fill-in duty on three occasions: a Buffalo game in March, that horrible drubbing by Washington in April, and the season finale, also against Washington.
Ultimately, you have to hope the small dose of NHL action helps Ahcan’s game grow, and that he can continue that growth in Providence this season.
Ondrej Kase
- 3 GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS
- Readers: 2.8
- SCOC: 3.8
When Kase has the same stat line as Ahcan, you know things didn’t go great.
Truthfully, I probably skewed the SCOC rating because I felt bad for Kase and probably gave him a 6 or something.
We all know it didn’t work out, and it’s probably best to just hope, for Kase’s sake, that he can fully recover and continue playing hockey.
Greg McKegg
- 5GP, 1G, 0A, 1PTS
- Readers: 4.0
- SCOC: 4.6
Another one that is probably best summed up as “fine.”
I was a little puzzled why they signed McKegg, given their relative depth at the fourth-line position, but he did fine when called upon.
He did enough to earn himself another contract, this time with the New York Rangers.
Cameron Hughes
- 1GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS
- Readers: 3.8
- SCOC: 5
All right, I have to say it — you people are a little harsh. Poor Cameron Hughes played just one game, the season finale, and you gave him a sub-average rating.
For shame.
Zach Senyshyn
- 8GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS
- Readers: 3.9
- SCOC: 4.0
Senyshyn didn’t really play enough to get a true rating, which is probably why most of us put him at below average: we had hoped for more.
While Senyshyn didn’t stink up the joint in his NHL appearances, he also didn’t offer a ton to get excited about — again, none of us thought he’d become an NHL regular last season, but we probably wanted to see that next step.
We didn’t get it, and are once again left hoping he can put it together next season.
Oskar Steen
- 3GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS
- Readers: 4.1
- SCOC: 4.6
Hey, he made his NHL debut! That’s pretty cool.
I think we all know we need to see more of Steen before making judgments, but at least he broke that NHL seal.
Urho Vaakanainen
- 9GP, 0G, 2A, 2PTS
- Readers: 4.5
- SCOC: 4.3
In my votes, I dinged Vaakanainen a little bit because like Senyshyn, I had hoped to see a little more (to a different degree, obviously).
Vaakanainen played sparingly and did fine, recording his first NHL point in his first game back in February (he got his second assist in his next game too).
Overall, however, he didn’t really seize his spot and refuse to give it up, nor did he establish himself as the obvious “next man in.”
Still, he’s only 22 and has improved regularly since being drafted. We all know defensemen take a while to develop, so here’s to hoping for continued development next season.