The Skate Podcast: Talking Bruins prospects Beecher, Steen and more with Mark Divver

75756A5E-120A-4932-810C-2FD980DB785E
By WEEI 93.7

Related

When Bruins development camp ends every summer, a lot of people voice a lot of opinions on what the prospects showed about the three or four days of drills and scrimmages.

Few people in attendance can call themselves an expert on what the prospects did at the camp and what they’ve done before coming to Boston. Mark Divver is definitely one of those worthy of thoughtfully opining on these prospects and their potential futures with the Bruins after his decades of experience covering hockey, including the Providence Bruins, for decades, and now with his work with RinksideRhodeIsland.com.

Putting the wraps on another Bruins development camp https://t.co/x0zCmuRoJT

— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) June 28, 2019

In this mini-episode of The Skate Podcast, Matt Kalman talks with Divver just minutes after development camp wrapped up. They talk about Oskar Steen’s potential to make the Boston lineup this fall, Cooper Zech’s ability to take a hit and overcome his lack of size, John Beecher’s skating (of course), Pavel Shen’s chances of being a late-round steal and the goaltending prospect pool behind Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.

Divver doesn’t see a future No. 1 NHL goaltender among the Bruins’ prospects yet, but he is eager to see how Kyle Keyser fares in his first pro season. Dan Vladar, meanwhile, still has some work to do to help Boston. Divver saw Vladar often with Providence last season.

“He had some very good games and he had some games where he wasn’t that good,” Divver said. “His save percentage was under .900, it was .898. Not that that is the end all and the be all, but he had some very good games and he had some games where you wished you got a save or two more, might’ve been the difference between winning and losing. The thing about him is he’s still only 21 years old.

“The thing with him is he’s so big, 6-5, he’s down on the ice a lot. And he uses up a lot of energy getting around, going down. He’s not an economy of motion guy. And there are times that at the 10-minute mark of the third period maybe, he’s gassed. So maybe the other team gets a late goal, a tying or a winning goal. He’s got to get past that.”

Listen to the whole episode here:

The Big Bad Blog is presented by: 

 Technology Decisions Aren't Black and White. Think Red. Click here for more.