Hey all- back with another audio cast file (Eric Carmen voice) all by myself…

In this 60+ minute audio cast, I continue my Boston Bruins prospect series, going with a couple of centers in Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka, both of whom I have a strong feeling will play for the B’s at some point (unless one or the other is involved in a higher-profile trade, which is possible- you never know). Also covered is 2015 13th overall pick Jakub Zboril, who had a solid 1st pro season- we try to be fair to him here. Last on deck for this one is Slovak forward Peter Cehlarik, who faces an important season after being a late third-round selection in 2013, a draft that hasn’t produced a great deal for Boston.

Frederic was another off-the-board pick by Boston, and we address some of the factors in his selection, the team’s second of the opening round thanks to the Martin Jones trade with San Jose, after they took Charlie McAvoy 14th overall in 2016. He’s big, athletic, and actually has some bite to him as evidenced here in his first pro fight last April with the Providence Bruins. It will probably be a bit of a process with him as he gains experience after just two seasons of NCAA hockey with Wisconsin, but after his draft position was criticized, he looks like a justified selection there at 29th overall.

This highlights package features Frederic with the Wisconsin Badgers last year along with another Bruins prospect, Cameron Hughes, who was another of Boston’s big 2015 draft haul, and signed last spring after completing his senior season. Hughes is often lost in the mix, but he’s a smallish, highly skilled offensive player.

Studnicka was the B’s second player chosen in the 2017 draft in the second round, and has elevated his stock pretty nicely as a strong two-way pivot who is a leader and producer in key moments. He recently showed off some impressive potential with Team Canada in the World Junior Summer Showcase, earning his team’s player of the game honors in a win vs. USA.

Here’s a nice YouTube highlight clip (posted by “Puck Prodigy”) of his year with the Oshawa Generals as their captain.

Here’s Sports Net Canada’s 2015 draft clip- it’s dated, but even in just a few images, you can see the smoothness and ability to handle and shoot the puck. As said in the audio cast- the talent has never been in question. Here’s hoping he’s on the right track to make an impact in Boston- we’ll talk about why we think he is set up for NHL success given the team’s situation on defense, so we hope you’ll stick around to hear it.

Here’s Zboril’s Bruins Academy segment from this past season, as well. It’s worth watching.

Here’s Cehlarik’s 1st NHL goal vs San Jose compliments of B’s supporter Dafoomie, who posts a lot of quality videos on the team at YouTube:

As long as he keeps going to the net like that, he’ll generate some offense.

EDIT- I mentioned in the audio cast that he might need to go on waivers to be sent down to Providence  but that is not the case- per CapFriendly, Cehlarik is still waivers exempt for this season.

Finally, we opened the segment with former NHLer (and one-time Bruin) Joe Murphy and his struggles with homelessness, as featured on TSN last week. It’s a serious issue in society and Murphy’s situation reminds us that professional athletes are no exception. Here’s to those like Trevor Kidd who are doing something to help and hopefully the NHL can take care of its own better going forward- we should all be pulling for Jo Jo Dancer in his current struggles along with everyone who has had TBI and complications from the innumerable hits they’ve taken over the course of their career.

Here’s an audio interview with Murphy via Q104 radio done in recent weeks, but the TSN segment is worth watching.

And now, here is the audio cast file you’ve been waiting for. Enjoy the puck talk. I’ll be posting later today about asking questions and the final audio cast before we get back to the 18-19 hockey season and the content slows down will be a mailbag type of format. Hopefully, we can get the Amigos together to do that…

Cheers and thanks for the support!