Stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com and eliteprospects.com.
My next player profile is on forward Zach Senyshyn! Senyshyn appeared in the first two games of his NHL career for the Bruins last season, in which he produced one goal and zero assists. He also played in 66 games for the Bruins’ AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, last season, through which he tallied 14 goals and ten assists. He then appeared in all four of the P-Bruins’ playoff games, but he failed to put up a single point in any of them. Drafted 15th overall of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft by the Bruins, Senyshyn has played in 132 career AHL games, over which he has recorded 26 goals and 24 assists. The 22-year-old right wing has only played for the Bruins organization over his one season NHL and slightly over two season professional career after turning pro at the end of his third full season with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL in 2016-17.
Senyshyn gets a lot of hate from people who have never even seen him play just because he was a part of the Bruins’ infamous 2015 first-round that saw them draft him, Jakub Zboril, and Jake DeBrusk over the likes of Mat Barzal, Thomas Chabot, and Brock Boeser. So far, DeBrusk is the only one who has panned out for the Bruins, and while that certainly isn’t a fun fact, it doesn’t mean the other two won’t eventually be full-time NHL players. Senyshyn played in two games for the Bruins last season, and he actually played surprisingly well all things considered. It’s obviously a very small sample size and therefore doesn’t mean much, but in just those two games, he showed that he’s likely capable of being a full-time NHL player someday. He had an underwhelming season in Providence this year, especially production-wise, which was likely due to his inconsistency offensively, but he also didn’t see a very big role since he mainly played on the team’s third line, which explains at least some of it. He’s a smart offensive winger who’s an incredible skater and has a great shot, but he’s yet to translate his offensive production to the professional ranks from juniors. He’s also got good puck skills and a creative streak, and he’s got good size and knows how and when to use it. His ceiling is likely as a depth scorer in the NHL, which will make a lot of people not like him because of what could have been, but he will almost certainly make the NHL and contribute someday, so he’s definitely not all bad.
As for what we can expect out of Senyshyn last season, there is some talk about how he could make the NHL roster out of camp, but personally, I don’t think that’s likely. I think he’ll spend the majority of the season down in Providence, but he’ll see time as an injury call-up provided he plays well down in the AHL. Hopefully, he steps up his production in the AHL, which is a good possibility given he’ll most likely see an increased offensive role this season. When he’s up in the NHL, hopefully, he can play similarly to how he did in his short time there this season, as what we saw was promising. But again, it was a very small sample size and against weaker competition since it was at the end of the year and the teams they played were sitting many of their good players in order to not risk injury (also why the Bruins needed Senyshyn up in the NHL in the first place). But anyways, it’ll be very interesting to see how this season unfolds for him, and I hope for both his sake and for that of the team that it goes well, as he could at the very least be a valuable depth scorer for the team someday. He deserves a real chance to show fans what he can do at the NHL level before people judge him too harshly, and I hope he gets it. But, as I’ve said with everyone else, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in training camp and over the course of this upcoming season.
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