Featured Article
Bruins AHL prospects update
Written by: Bill Roark on 01/10/2005 
The Boston Bruins currently have just seven true prospects playing for their AHL affiliate in Providence, in this lockout year. At least two may have made the big club this year, Andy Hilbert and Brad Boyes. Hilbert, soon to be 24, has taken a leadership role on the 2005-06 Bruins and currently sits atop the team scoring leaders with 42 points in 39 games. His 42 points place him tied for sixth in the overall league scoring race. He leads the team in goals with 19 and his +10 rating is tied for second on the team.
The 22-year-old Boyes started
on a torrid pace right out of the gates and despite appearing somewhat streaky
at times, has managed to almost keep pace with Hilbert with 39 points (14 goals,
25 assists) in 39 games. This ranks Boyes
ninth in the league. His 25 assists
lead the team.
Another highly touted prospect
who is performing well in spite of the talent infusion into the league is
20-year-old goaltender Hannu
Toivonen. He has shown flashes
of the dominant presence he can be between the pipes with a record of 16-10-3 in
30 games played. In addition to the
impressive record he’s compiled thus far, he has managed to shut out the
opposition on three occasions and maintain a miniscule 2.03 goals against average
with a lofty .934 save percentage. Providence
will continue to rely on him heavily in order to test his stamina and
consistency, which seems to be the least of their worries.
Several other Boston prospects
are now playing for the AHL affiliate with mixed results.
Milan Jurcina and Martin
Samuelsson are already close to surpassing last year's point totals in
roughly half the number of games played. Jurcina is intriguing as a
21-year-old 6’4 defenseman who could potentially develop
into a reliable NHLer. Both are +4. Kevin
Dallman, 23, leads the team in points from the blueline with 17. His
story will be developing as we watch to see if he can build an all around game
that will lead to playing time on a higher plateau.
Winger Colton Orr has remained the Providence Bruins tough guy and will likely continue in that role, as it is hard to ignore his talent as a fighter and instigator. The 22-year-old is fourth on the team with 118 PIMs.
Center
Kris
Vernarsky and goaltender Peter
Hamerlik spent a short time in Providence before being reassigned to the ECHL.
Hamerlik was loaned to Reading of the ECHL, switching places with Cody
Rudkowsky, but has not played. The team deep at center, the 22-year-old Vernarsky was
assigned to the Florida Everblades, where he has 13 points in 22 games.
| Pos | GP | G | A | Pts | PPG | +/- | PIM | |
| Hilbert | LW | 39 | 19 | 23 | 42 | 1.08 | +10 | 28 |
| Boyes | C | 39 | 14 | 25 | 39 | 1.00 | 0 | 25 |
| Dallman | D | 30 | 3 | 14 | 17 | .57 | -1 | 16 |
| Samuelsson | LW | 25 | 5 | 4 | 9 | .36 | +4 | 17 |
| Jurcina | D | 39 | 4 | 8 | 12 | .31 | +4 | 36 |
| Vernarsky | C | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .20 | -2 | 2 |
| Orr | RW | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | .10 | -7 | 118 |
| GP | W | L | T | SO | GAA | SPCT | |
| Toivonen | 30 | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 2.03 | .934 |
| Hamerlik | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.02 | .877 |
Copyright 2005 Hockey's Future. Do not duplicate without permission of the editorial staff.
HF Quick Navigation
