Taking his shot
Bruins’ blue-liner Jakub Zboril hopes to make the most of any opportunity this season
Over five years have passed since the Bruins selected Jakub Zboril with their first of three first-round selections (13th overall) in a draft that remains the heaviest cudgel that critics can use to bash current management.
But after three full years in Providence and a development that’s had its share of zig-zags, this self-described “slow learner” may finally be ready for the National Hockey League. If so, there would be the happy coincidence of the B’s finally having a legitimate opening or two on the left side of their defense with Torey Krug moving on, and Zdeno Chara’s future currently up in the air
he opportunity is there. Now the 23-year-old Czech must seize it.
Zboril returned to Boston on Sunday after spending the fall playing for Brno Kometa in the Czech league, a fun experience for him during which he was able to play against his older brother Adam, who plays for Mlada Boleslav BK.
But now, the focus is on making the Bruins. He’s at the start of his eight-day quarantine that will require four negative COVID-19 tests. If everything goes well, he expects to be on the Warrior Arena ice by Monday, giving him a week to get back up to speed before the 10-day training camp.
Opening night is less than a month away, but the B’s have to make some pretty significant determinations between now and then, and gauging if Zboril is the player they hoped he’d be when they drafted him five years ago is perhaps the biggest.
From draft day to this moment, Zboril’s road has had its bumps, to be sure. It was well known going into the draft that there was a top tier of of D-men that included Zach Werenski, Noah Hanifin and Ivan Provorov, all three of whom
went before the B’s spot at 13 and who are now well-established NHLers. The B’s had hoped to make a deal to get in position to take one of them, but they couldn’t.
Still, conventional wisdom at the time had 6-foot, 200-pound Zboril at the top of the next tier, and having to trade Dougie Hamilton, the B’s needed to take a defensemen. The pick made sense.
Then with the next pick the B’s took Jake DeBrusk, who has proven his worth in the NHL. But then the B’s went way off the board by taking Zach Senyshyn with the 15th pick. The criticism was almost immediate and soon the B’s entire first round class of three began to feel the heat when players taken after them eventually began to make names for themselves in the NHL — Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, Brock Boeser, Travis Konecny, even Zboril’s Saint John Sea Dogs teammate Thomas Chabot.
It didn’t help matters that Zboril went back to juniors and struggled to start the next season. Pressure mounted.
“At the time, I had also sorts of social media, Instagram, Twitter and all that. And I just kept reading all the tweets that I suck. And it was just really getting in my head,” said Zboril.
He made the decision to delete those accounts and, despite some withdrawals, is glad he did.
“I’m a much happier person now,” said Zboril. “It took me like two days to get used to it, because I was like, oh my God, I didn’t know what was happening around me. But after a couple of days I realized that it gave me such a freedom that I didn’t worry about anyone else and I was going my own way.”
While Zboril had made the transition to North America as a junior in Saint John, he conceded he still had a lot to learn about being a professional when he got to
Providence. He not only had to get to practice on time, but be ready to get his work done in that practice.
“I’m a slow learner, so I had to take it step-by-step. It was a journey, maturity-wise,” said Zboril.
In his second pro season, he got called up to Boston for two games, the first one in Dallas, when the B’s blue line was crushed by injuries. It didn’t go well, and he admitted then as he does now that it was too much, too soon.
“I remember like it happened yesterday,” said Zboril of that recall. “I was not in a really good state. I was called up and I wasn’t at my best hockey at that time, so when I had to make that step and play in the NHL, I was a little bit overwhelmed. But right now, I feel really good and confident in myself. I feel it’s going to go much better.”
Zboril had a slow start to last year in Providence and did not get a call-up throughout the regular season. But by the end of the season he was one of the P-Bruins best players on the back end, if not the best, with his transition game a key component of that successful team’s makeup. He’s worked to improve on his gaps, as well as other little things. Mentally, he said he’s also learned to better park the inevitable mistakes and not let it affect the next shift.
“I would say I still have to shoot more, that’s what the coaches tell me all the time,” said Zboril. “But other than that, I feel like I grew a lot, both as a player and as a person. So I think I’m ready to make the next step.”
Zboril will have to make his own mark. Having yet to crack the 20-point mark in the AHL, he won’t replace Krug’s production. And no one is going to replace Chara, if it comes to that. But the B’s need to see something from their young left-shot D-men (2017 first rounder Urho Vaakanainen and 2015 Jeremy Lauzon are also in the mix on the left side). The time could be right for Zboril.
“Whatever happens, happens,” said Zboril. “If I get a chance, I’m going to do everything I can to show how I grew and that I can actually play there.”