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Zach Senyshyn

Minor Transactions: 07/16/23

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As free agent activity in the NHL slows down, most of the player-movement focus in the world’s top league revolves around upcoming arbitration cases for restricted free agents. Just as those prominent players and their representatives are hard at work negotiating terms of new contracts or preparing cases for the arbitration process, teams across the hockey world are hard at work signing players and adding players to their rosters for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of notable transactions from around the world of professional hockey here.

  • Zachary Senyshyn, a player perhaps best known for being part of the Boston Bruins’ infamous trio of consecutive first-round picks at the 2015 draft, has decided to continue his pro career overseas. The speedy 26-year-old forward has signed a contract with the Schwenninger Wild Wings of the DEL. The move comes after Senyshyn’s most recent season in North America, a year where he struggled to make much of an impact and ended up traded for future considerations mid-season. While Senyshyn scored 19 goals and earned an NHL call-up in 2021-22 he only managed 18 points in 62 games in 2022-23. Senyshyn already crossed the 260 professional games threshold last season and this year crossed the 320 game threshold, meaning per the AHL’s development rule he no longer qualifies as a “development player” under any of those two limits. That would make earning another shot in the AHL even more difficult and has likely contributed to his choice to take his services to Germany.
  • The AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins have re-signed forward Trenton Bliss to a one-year contract extension. Bliss is fresh off a stellar campaign in the ECHL for the Griffins’ affiliate, the Toledo Walleye. He scored 40 points in 38 regular-season games and 14 points in 13 playoff contests. The 25-year-old former Michigan Tech All-Star was the ECHL’s Rookie of the Month for January and clearly impressed in the third-tier league. While he struggled to make much of an impact in his extensive AHL exposure (he scored just four points in 30 games for Grand Rapids) this extension gives him another chance to compete for an AHL job or potentially return as a leading scorer for the Walleye.
  • 24-year-old Nicholas Guay has earned a one-year contract extension from his club, the Trois-Rivieres Lions, after a solid first season in the ECHL. Guay is a former captain of two QMJHL teams and was a top scorer at the Major Junior level. He dipped his toes into the world of professional hockey in 2021-22 but had more success playing University hockey, scoring 25 points in 18 games. He potted 12 goals and 47 points for the Lions last season, tied for third-most on the team, and will now be able to return to their lineup and make a push for consideration for an AHL call-up/
  • Former ECHL scorer Matthew Alfaro is off to Germany after his first campaign as a relatively regular AHLer. The 26-year-old Calgary Native played his way into the AHL relatively quickly after making a strong start to his pro career in 2020-21. He scored 41 points in 61 games for the Wheeling Nailers and the following season managed to skate in a total of 36 AHL games, notching 12 points. That combined with his point-per-game production with the Nailers earned him a more regular job in the AHL with the Abbotsford Canucks, though he only managed nine points in 37 games of combined regular-season and postseason action. Now, he’s off to play for the Ravensburg Townstars of the DEL2, one of the oldest clubs in German hockey.
  • Vladislav Kodola, a middle-six center in the KHL, has signed a two-year contract with Dynamo Minsk after a recent trade landed him back in his home country. Once an import player for the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, Kodola developed into a quality professional player with Cherepovets Severstal in the KHL, eventually becoming one of the team’s top forwards. He scored a career-high 32 points in 54 games in 2020-21 and even earned the right to represent Belarus at the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championships. He was traded to Dynamo Moscow last summer and his production declined, which likely contributed to Moscow dealing him to Minsk, where signed this two-year deal.

This page may be updated throughout the day. 

New Jersey Devils Sign Zach Senyshyn To PTO

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The 2015 NHL Draft is one Boston Bruins fans would very much like to forget. Now, one of their three infamous first-round picks is joining his potential third NHL organization in a matter of months. Forward Zach Senyshyn today signed a PTO with the New Jersey Devils, the team announced.

Boston’s 15th overall pick in 2015, Senyshyn was a member of the Bruins organization up until the trade deadline this past season. He’s played just 16 NHL games, all spread out over the past four seasons, and has only one NHL goal and two assists. He hasn’t been consistently producing in the AHL, either, averaging under 0.50 points per game throughout his 250-plus game career in the minors, mostly with the Providence Bruins. Although he had finally broken out offensively in the minors over the past two seasons, he had just three points in 16 AHL games with the Belleville Senators after he was traded to the Ottawa organization in exchange for Josh Brown.

Needless to say, Senyshyn is attending Devils camp just for a shot at a contract within the organization, less so the NHL roster. Now 25, Senyshyn will need to have a strong enough camp to prove he can be a dependable top-nine contributor for their AHL affiliate in Utica.

Senyshyn joins veteran defenseman Thomas Hickey as players attending Devils camp on PTOs.

Atlantic Notes: Murray, Worlds, Petry, Gallagher, Senyshyn

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Senators goaltender Matt Murray was hoping to return down the stretch to give him an opportunity to play for Canada at the upcoming World Championships but had to shut it down last week due to post-concussion symptoms, relays Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch (Twitter link).  It was a tough season for the 27-year-old as he was limited to just 20 games where he had a GAA of 3.05 and a SV% of .906, numbers that aren’t worth his $6.25MM AAV.  That resulted in Murray clearing waivers back in November.  With Anton Forsberg signing an extension back at the trade deadline and prospect Filip Gustavsson being waiver-eligible in 2022-23, Murray’s spot on Ottawa’s roster to start next season is far from a guarantee.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • Still with Ottawa, Ian Mendes of The Athletic mentions (Twitter links) that winger Drake Batherson and forward Tim Stutzle will represent Canada and Germany respectively at next month’s World Championships. However, forward Brady Tkachuk is unlikely to play for the United States in the tournament due to some nagging injuries.
  • Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry told reporters, including TSN’s John Lu (Twitter link), that he hasn’t closed the door on staying in Montreal. The veteran blueliner requested a trade midseason but played much better in the second half under interim head coach Martin St. Louis, finishing up with 21 points in his final 28 games this season after having just six points through his first 40 contests.  Petry has three years left on his contract with a $6.25MM AAV.
  • Still with Montreal, Lu notes in a separate tweet that winger Brendan Gallagher declined an invite to play at the Worlds due to lingering injury issues while noting his hip issue from the playoffs last year was still acting up this season. Gallagher had the toughest offensive campaign of his 10-year career, notching just seven goals and 17 assists in 56 games.
  • With the regular season now done (at least for 30 of 32 teams), several trades that have conditions in them have now been finalized. One of those was the move that sent Zach Senyshyn to Ottawa in exchange for a conditional draft pick.  Had the winger played in five games with the Senators, the Bruins would have received Ottawa’s 2022 sixth-round pick.  He only played in two so Boston will instead get their 2022 seventh-rounder.

Boston Bruins Acquire Josh Brown

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Last April the Boston Bruins acquired a depth defenseman from the Ottawa Senators for a mid-round pick, and it turned out to be a pretty good move. Mike Reilly ended up signing a three-year contract extension and now is a regular on the Bruins blueline. They’ll try it again, this time acquiring Josh Brown and a conditional 2022 seventh-round draft pick from the Senators in exchange for Zach Senyshyn and a 2022 fifth-round pick. If Senyshyn plays five NHL games before the end of the 2021-22 season, the Bruins will receive a 2022 sixth-round pick instead.

Brown, 28, brings a much different package to the ice than Reilly. This time it’s a 6’5″ 220-lbs defenseman that is an absolute bulldozer on the ice, hitting anything that moves whenever he gets the chance. What kind of role he’ll play on Boston isn’t clear, though it will be certainly bigger than what Senyshyn has done to this point.

One of the infamous three consecutive first-round picks from 2015, the 24-year-old has played just 14 games to this point in his career. That’s fewer than every other player drafted in that round, something that certainly doesn’t bode well for his future even in a new organization. He’ll turn 25 later this month and likely get a chance to show what he can do with the Senators, but he might not be there very long.

Senyshyn is one of the players who will qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer, meaning the Senators would need to reach a contract with him in the next few months, or else he’d go to the open market.

Latest On Jake DeBrusk

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After a challenging 2020-2021 season, Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk requested to be traded from the team. The team acknowledged his request, but since then there has been seemingly little progress towards a resolution of the issue. That lack of progress should not be confused with a retraction of the request, though. DeBrusk still desires a trade from the Bruins, and as Pierre LeBrun of TSN explains, DeBrusk’s camp is “willing to work on an extension to help facilitate a deal” so that the player can be traded to another team. For an acquiring team to retain an unextended DeBrusk’s rights beyond this season, they would have to issue him a qualifying offer worth $4.41MM against the cap. LeBrun notes that “a lot of teams are concerned” about that figure, which could explain why DeBrusk remains a Bruin several months after his request to be traded became public.

Looking at the situation from Boston’s perspective, it is clear that DeBrusk is in the middle of a bounce-back season, as was cemented by a hat trick against the Los Angeles Kings. He has 14 goals and 24 points in 48 games, which is a 24-goal, 41-point pace, production that is more in line with his past seasons. DeBrusk’s re-emergence as a legitimate scoring threat, especially recently, should in theory help him secure a trade, but the looming trade deadline complicates things. The Bruins are currently solidly in place in the Eastern Conference’s first wild card playoff spot, and taking away DeBrusk’s production as the team intends on competing for a Stanley Cup would not be ideal. That being said, one wonders if keeping a player who wants out on a team with sky-high aspirations is just as problematic. Moreover, there is the opportunity a DeBrusk trade would hypothetically provide the Bruins. Moving DeBrusk could help Boston target a replacement forward from the trade market, giving them more assets to trade and more cap space to work with. The team knows DeBrusk doesn’t want to be a Bruin, so perhaps a DeBrusk trade could go hand-in-hand with Boston acquiring a forward to replace him.

For an acquiring team, DeBrusk represents an interesting opportunity as well as a bit of a risk. On one hand, there are a lot of things to DeBrusk that make him an attractive trade target. He has flirted with scoring 30 goals before and is still only 25 years old. Given his recent inconsistency, he is likely to cost under $4MM on an extension, and is, according to LeBrun, willing to negotiate an extension with a team that acquires him. So any team can look at DeBrusk and see a potential 30-goal-scorer that they can lock into a bargain contract. But on the flip side of that, DeBrusk’s 27-goal-season was his sophomore campaign in 2018-19, and since then he has struggled to match that level of production. His bouts of inconsistency and inability to truly seize a top-six spot in Boston are red flags, and with a hefty $4.41MM price tag attached on a qualifying offer, what happens if he struggles to transition to a new team? DeBrusk is a difficult player to fully get a grip on, so he could be a bit of a leap of faith for any team that trades for him. But the upside is definitely there.

Compared to other options on the trade market, DeBrusk is a riskier proposition. As previously mentioned, his inability to cement himself as a reliable NHL scorer makes him more of a lottery ticket than proven veteran scorers such as Phil Kessel. But DeBrusk is younger, offers more long-term viability, and has the upside to be a multi-year fixture in a team’s top-six. A team acquiring DeBrusk would likely be in a different place in their competitive timeline than a team acquiring Kessel, because DeBrusk’s value is more theoretical, more long-term, while Kessel or other veteran wingers would in all likelihood provide a more immediate boost.

Interestingly, DeBrusk is not the only Bruins 2015 first-round pick to request a trade from the organization. Winger Zachary Senyshyn, the player the Bruins picked immediately after DeBrusk, also filed a trade request earlier this season. While DeBrusk may be viewed as a disappointment in the eyes of some observers in Boston, Senyshyn has been undoubtedly the more disappointing pick for the Bruins. Senyshyn has only appeared in 14 career NHL games and has a single goal to his name. With Senyshyn and DeBrusk requesting trades from the organization, it is clear that the team’s long-term plans for their offense have shifted away from those two former top picks. The situation with the two of them is definitely one to keep an eye on, especially as the trade deadline gets closer and closer.

Zach Senyshyn Requests Trade

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The third member of the Boston Bruins’ infamous 2015 first-round trio, Zach Senyshyn is also the one with the fewest NHL games played. He’s played just 14 times at that level, recording a goal and three points. For the Providence Bruins, he’s been a strong contributor, wearing an “A” as an alternate captain the last two seasons and registering 92 points in 213 games. But now he wants out.

Speaking with Mark Divver of Rinkside Rhode Island, Senyshyn explained that he has requested a trade out of the Bruins organization. To be clear, he said that he will report back to Providence after the holiday break, but believes it would be best for both sides for him to get a fresh start.

Selected 15th overall, Senyshyn was the third-straight Bruins pick in the first round. Jakub Zboril and Jake DeBrusk were the other two, both players who have also at one point in their careers requested a trade out of Boston. While all three have been disappointments relative to their draft position, the picks were considered all the worse thanks to the three players that came directly after them. Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot were picked 16, 17, and 18. Senyshyn even touches on that specifically in his interview with Divver, which is understandable given that every media outlet (this one included) seems to mention the draft outcomes when he’s discussed.

In 21 games this season, the 24-year-old forward has 13 points with Providence and is tied with Oskar Steen or the team lead in goals with eight. He agreed to a new one-year, two-way contract in the offseason that normally would have left him a restricted free agent again, but, like Zboril, Senyshyn will become a Group VI unrestricted free agent should he fail to reach 80 NHL games by the end of the year. With 66 needed to hit that threshold, he’s not going to make it even if a trade went through in the coming days, meaning one way or another he’ll get a chance at his fresh start soon enough.

Boston Bruins Sign Zach Senyshyn

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The Boston Bruins have reached an agreement with their final restricted free agent, signing Zach Senyshyn to a one-year, two-way deal. The contract will carry an NHL salary of $750K. Of note, the young forward will be 25 at its expiry, meaning he could become a Group VI unrestricted free agent if he fails to land a regular spot in the Bruins lineup this season.

Now 24, Senyshyn was the 15th overall pick in 2015, the last of the infamous three consecutive picks the Bruins held. Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk and Senyshyn have combined for just 146 NHL points, while each of the three picks that followed–Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot, have eclipsed 150. 

He’ll never escape that label, and in Senyshyn’s case, it is deserved. The winger hasn’t even had a ton of success at the minor league level, reaching a career-high of 26 points in 2017-18 with the Providence Bruins. His per-game production did take a jump in 2020-21 with seven goals and 13 points in just 18 AHL games, but he still seems very far from making an impact at the NHL level.

In 14 career games with Boston, Senyshyn has just one goal and three points. To be sent to the minor leagues this season he would need to clear waivers, but that wasn’t a problem at the beginning of 2020-21. He passed through in January without a claim.

East Notes: Lundqvist, Ovechkin, Cozens, Senyshyn

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When Henrik Lundqvist was told he required open-heart surgery late last year, he was understandably ruled out for the season.  Last month, he resumed on-ice activities and thoughts of a possible return started to trickle in.  Speaking with reporters yesterday including Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, Capitals GM Brian MacLellan acknowledged that he couldn’t rule out the possibility that the 39-year-old coming back though he qualified his statement by noting that Lundqvist playing remains “highly unlikely”.

With the Capitals using youngsters Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov this season, the idea of adding a veteran third goalie (even with Craig Anderson on the taxi squad) has come up.  While Lundqvist is still months away from making a decision about whether or not he could return, it’s now an option that can’t be ruled out entirely.  Even at that, that’s great news for him and just possibly for Washington eventually as well.

More from the East Division:

  • Also from Pell’s piece, MacLellan didn’t provide much of an update on the status of extension talks for captain Alex Ovechkin. He did express optimism that a deal will eventually get done with both sides needing to find the “sweet spot” that they can agree on.  Ovechkin is off to a bit of a slower start by his standards with nine goals in 22 games although he’s only one off the Capitals lead in that department.
  • Sabres forward Dylan Cozens is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, relays Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald. The rookie is being evaluated to determine the severity of the issue, one that occurred early in the third period on Thursday against Pittsburgh.  The 20-year-old has just five points in 20 games this season as he adapts to NHL action but had been subbing as the top center for Jack Eichel the last couple of games.
  • Zach Senyshyn’s season debut with the Bruins on Thursday will be his last NHL contest for a bit. Boston Hockey Now’s Joe Haggerty notes that the winger suffered an upper-body injury in that game with head coach Bruce Cassidy stating that “he’s going to miss some time”.  The 23-year-old was a first-round pick in 2015 but has been limited to just seven games at the top level so far.

Zach Senyshyn Re-Signs With Boston Bruins

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The Boston Bruins have signed restricted free agent forward Zachary Senyshyn to a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. Senyshyn was not eligible for arbitration.

Senyshyn, 23, has still yet to establish himself as a true NHL option for the Bruins, five years removed from being the 15th overall selection. In 2019-20 he played in four games for Boston, recording two assists while averaging a little over eight minutes a night. Even his minor league numbers haven’t grown to the level that was expected, with Senyshyn scoring just seven goals and 16 points in 42 games for Providence this year.

The idea of the former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds star becoming an impact top-six winger for the Bruins is pretty much dead at this point, but perhaps he can still carve out a role at the NHL level. The team brought in Craig Smith to give them another option on the right side but will likely be missing David Pastrnak for the beginning of the season after recent surgery.

Even without much production, it wasn’t time for the Bruins to give up on the young forward. He’ll join a growing group of prospects that will battle for roster spots at training camp (whenever that is) and have to wait patiently for his next opportunity.

Zach Senyshyn Out Four Weeks With Lower-Body Injury

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The Boston Bruins were giving young forward Zach Senyshyn a chance to finally prove himself at the NHL level, but that has come to an abrupt end. Senyshyn has been ruled out with a lower-body injury and will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks. In his place, the Bruins have recalled Trent Frederic from the AHL.

It’s an unfortunate turn for Senyshyn, who needs every chance he can get to try and rid himself of the “bust” label that he has already received. Though just 22 years old (with plenty of time to find success), Senyshyn will always be compared to the three players selected directly after him in 2015—Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor and Thomas Chabot.

While that critique isn’t fair of any young player, Senyshyn was at least starting to turn things around by recording two points in four games for the Bruins this year. Now he’ll have to watch and wait for the next month hoping he gets another opportunity.

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