B’s ink Senyshyn to one-year deal
Zach Senyshyn may be running out of chances to make his mark in Boston, but the Bruins on Wednesday gave him another chance to do so.
The B’s inked the 2015 first-round pick (15th overall and the third of three consecutive first-rounders) to a one-year, two-way extension worth an NHL cap hit of $700,000.
“I definitely feel really good about my development over my last three years on my entry level contract,” said the 23-year-old right wing. “I felt I got better each year. I feel like I’m really, really close to cracking that team. I really appreciate the Bruins giving me this contract and giving me the opportunity to show I belong up there with those guys.”
Senyshyn may be unfailingly polite, but he’s the most controversial pick of the 2015 draft that saw the B’s get six picks in the first and second rounds, thanks to the Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic trades. It has produced Jake DeBrusk (14th), Brandon Carlo (37th) and Jeremy Lauzon (52nd), but the B’s reached for Senyshyn with the 15th pick, just before current NHL impact players like Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor and Thomas Chabot were taken.
In his last two years with the Soo Greyhounds after being drafted, Senyshyn started to look like the player they were looking for. Senyshyn scored 87 goals in 125 games for the Greyhounds. But that scoring touch has not followed him into the pros. He’s got 33 goals in 174 AHL games.
Still, when brought up to Boston in the 2019-20 season, the 6-foot-1, 192-pound Senyshyn did not look out of place as a swift, sturdy right wing with Charlie Coyle. He picked up a couple of assists in a game in Montreal. But just when he thought he might get career traction, he suffered a knee injury in his fourth game with Boston, effectively taking him out of the mix.
“Obviously, it was pretty devastating at that time,” said Senyshyn. “Again, I’m more of a guy who tends to look at a silver lining in any situation. Obviously it was really good to get in there and prove to myself that I was able to play with those guys and succeed. I’m just trying to take that away from that. I would have really loved to have been up there with those guys for an extended period of time. But I’m coming in swinging and I really want to make that team for good now.”
Even with the expected late arrival of David Pastrnak, currently recuperating from hip surgery, Senyshyn will have an uphill battle making the Boston roster with Ondrej Kase, Craig Smith, Chris Wagner and Karson Kuhlman seemingly ahead of him on the right-side depth chart. But he might own something of a tiebreaker over Kuhlman if it’s close. Kuhlman still needs 11 more games to become waiver eligible while Senyshyn would have to clear to be sent down. It’s conceivable a team would snatch up a player with Senyshyn’s attributes if he became available on the wire.
“With regards to the right side in Boston, I think with any NHL team, they’re not going to hand you a position. I’m well aware of that and that’s what I’m training for right now, to take a spot, not be handed one,” said Senyshyn, currently training at home in Ottawa. “With regards to waivers, that’s not really something I have my eyes set on. They’re more set on making the team right now. But again, I feel ready to play in the NHL and succeed in the NHL.”
While he may not reach the lofty hopes the B’s once had for him, Senyshyn believes his tool box has gotten bigger as a pro.
“I see myself as a second or third-line NHL winger who can provide some secondary scoring by using his speed. But I’m also a guy who knows how to (penalty kill) now, how to be a defensive forward, how to get pucks off the wall,” said Senyshyn.