Jack Studnicka's time in Boston has come to an end. The Bruins announced Thursday night that they have traded the 23-year-old center to the Vancouver Canucks for goalie Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg.
Studnicka was the Bruins' No. 1 prospect at one point, but his development plateaued over the last couple years and he was never able to stick at the NHL level.
In 38 career NHL games, Studnicka managed just one goal and six assists. He did have a pretty good preseason and made the Bruins out of training camp, but that was in part because he would have needed to clear waivers to be sent down to Providence.
Studnicka managed to get into just one of the Bruins' first eight games and struggled mightily in that game, committing a turnover that led to a goal and taking two bad penalties.
The trade signals that the Bruins simply believe they have too many better forwards right now, although the timing is interesting from the perspective that David Krejci suffered an upper-body injury Thursday night and did not return to the Bruins' game against the Red Wings.
If Krejci misses any time, that would in theory open some playing time for Studnicka, but the Bruins can also just move Pavel Zacha to center, as they did on Thursday.
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney acknowledged the awkward timing after the game, but said the trade had already been agreed to earlier in the day and that the team is comfortable with Zacha sliding to center if Krejci does miss some time (he will miss at least Friday night's game in Columbus).
As for why things just never worked out for Studnicka in Boston, Sweeney said there was probably some shared blame in his development hitting multiple speed bumps.
"It's a good question overall, because his initial onboarding was really good. His trajectory was really good," Sweeney said. "During the COVID year, which was disjointed for a lot of players, he just kind of stalled just a little bit. Then it was up and down and opportunities in and out. No fault of Jack's. Maybe more fault on ours in terms of not being able to get him fully acclimated to the level he had been playing at in the AHL and producing. Tried him in different positions, played him on the wing a little bit. Just didn't find the traction when he had his opportunities to really take advantage of it. I think Jack would admit he didn't play his absolute best hockey, even the other night."
DiPietro (no relation to former Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro) is a 23-year-old netminder who was with the AHL Abbotsford Canucks. He appeared in 34 AHL games with Abbotsford in 2021-22, compiling a 15-13-4 record with a 2.95 goals against average and .901 save percentage. Sweeney said the organization is still deciding if DiPietro will go to AHL Providence or ECHL Maine.
Myrenberg is a 19-year-old, right-shot defenseman who is listed at 6-foot-1, 187 pounds. He has skated in nine games with Mora IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan League in Sweden in 2022-23, posting one goal and two assists for three points. Sweeney said the Bruins have had eyes on Myrenberg for a while and that European scouting director P.J. Axelsson is "very familiar" with him.