It’s been a busy day in Vancouver. Not only have the Vancouver Canucks placed a player on long-term injured reserve and another on regular injured reserve, but they have also completed a trade.
As first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Vancouver Canucks have acquired center Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins. In exchange, the Canucks are sending goaltender Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg. The trade has now been made official.
Studnicka, 23, leaves the Bruins having occupied a place on their roster bubble so far this season. He has appeared in just one game this year, and split time last season between the Bruins and the AHL’s Providence Bruins. Studnicka was formerly one of the Bruins’ top prospects, having been an exceptional junior scorer, quality AHL scorer, and 2017 second-round pick.
Studnicka has proven himself at the AHL level, and last season he had 35 points in 41 games there. It’s success at the NHL level that’s eluded him, and he has struggled to make an impact at the game’s highest level in the chances he’s been offered.
He’ll head to a Vancouver team currently looking for any sort of sign of life to cling onto. The team is seeking its first win of the season, and perhaps the Canucks believe that they can figure out what’s kept Studnicka’s AHL scoring success from translating to the NHL level.
The Canucks’ top-nine is currently filled with more accomplished players than Studnicka, but it’s possible the Canucks could use him in Nils Hoglander’s top-nine slot if Hoglander is moved this way season.
For Boston, moving Studnicka clears a spot on the team’s 23-man roster, a spot that could go to Mike Reilly, who was sent down earlier today.
In trading Studnicka, the Bruins are ending a developmental project that once held significant promise. In return, the team is receiving two players who represent developmental projects of their own.
The first player they are receiving in return is Myrenberg, a 2021 fifth-round pick. Myrenberg is a right-shot defenseman currently playing for Mora in the Allsvenskan, the second division of Swedish pro hockey. The second player they are receiving is the goaltender DiPietro, a goalie prospect who was once held in high regard across the league.
The Bruins will have until the summer of 2025 to determine if they want to sign Myrenberg to an entry-level deal, meaning he will have a long developmental runway to work with. As for DiPietro, the developmental pathway will be a bit more condensed. The Bruins currently have Keith Kinkaid and Kyle Keyser manning the crease for AHL Providence, and both are performing well. This makes DiPietro’s fit in the Bruins organization not immediately clear.
While the implications of this trade for both organizations will be, in all likelihood, minor, each player involved still has room to grow into something more than they are currently. So while this deal might seem relatively insignificant at the moment, it will definitely be an interesting one to track moving forward.
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