Opportunity knocks
Kuhlman makes mark
Karson Kuhlman knows he’s playing the long game in his first Bruins training camp.
Would Kuhlman, an undrafted free agent signee out of the University of Minnsota-Duluth last spring, turn down a spot on the B’s varsity roster if it was offered to him? Of course not. But the utility forward knows the numbers don’t seem to be in his favor right now.
What this camp has been about for Kuhlman is planting a seed in the minds of the B’s brass and coaching staff. To let them know he is a player to watch within their system. And it appears that mission has been accomplished, as it’s clear that his four years at UMD have groomed him well for pro hockey.
“This is a great organization and that’s why I chose to come here in the spring. But at the same time, I want to come in and show them the way that I play hockey,” said Kuhlman earlier this week. “I’m taking it day by day, not worrying about too far into the future. That’s something you’ve got to do at a camp like this, especially when there are so many guys that have NHL experience that are here in this room right now. So I’m just trying to play my game and hopefully going from there.”
Kuhlman, who got in a couple of games in Providence last year after his NCAA championship-winning season was over, has enjoyed his time in camp and he’s taken advantage of the fact that a good chunk of the roster was in China for 10 days. He has played in two preseason games (he was not in the lineup last night in Detroit), an opportunity that probably would not have presented itself had this been a conventional camp.
And yet he’s still been able to hang around NHL veterans like Zdeno Chara, David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron, who stayed back in Boston for various reasons.
“It’s been good so far,” said Kuhlman, who notched 13 goals and seven assists in 44 games his senior year. “Obviously it’s my first camp. You get a little case of the jitters, you meet a lot of new faces and it’s a lot of new information at once. But I think I’ve been taking everything in and learning a lot. It’s pretty easy stepping into a culture like this where everybody is so inviting and great at teaching as well.”
Kuhlman has gotten in a lot of hockey. It started with the Prospects Challenge, the rookie tournament in Buffalo prior to training camp in which he was one of the B’s best players, and he’s continued his reliable play in his two preseason games. He won’t wow you with his skill or touch around the net — an area of his game that he’s focused on recently — but there are jobs available for guys who can’t score 30 goals a season.
“He’s a little bit of that Swiss Army knife player,” said B’s coach Bruce Cassidy, who saw Kuhlman in Buffalo before going to China. “He added some offense, he killed (penalties), added some energy, physical when we needed him to be. He looks like he could be a good depth player. It’s a little tough for us right now with Noel (Acciari) and (Chris) Wagner and those types of guys here but maybe he’s that guy down the road, or maybe he’s a call-up guy for us. I don’t want to rule him out now. That’s not fair. But in general, we’re pretty happy with the bottom of our lineup and that’s probably where he fits.”
Kuhlman learned how to make himself indispensable at UMD.
“My four years in college and even before that, I’ve taken a lot of pride in the 200-foot game,” said Kuhlman. “I did a lot of that, especially the first two years, to keep myself in the lineup, whether it was killing penalties or being netfront on the power play or just doing little things in the (defensive) zone. I think that’s what I bring to the table. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into working on my scoring touch, too, which kind of helped me the last two years of school.”
Kuhlman has been appreciative of his time here.
“It was nice getting into the two games,” he said. “The first game I was doing a little too much thinking and not enough playing. But then I think I settled in when I went down to Washington there. And hopefully I’m getting better each day. Seeing how all these older guys take care of themselves and prepare for practice and games is something I can take with me down the road here.”
And down the road, he might be able to make his stop in Boston a little more permanent.