WILMINGTON, Mass. — Zach Senyshyn was taken by the Boston Bruins with the 15th pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, which was a bit higher than some people in the hockey media, including myself, predicted he would land.
“It was a little bit surprising, for sure,” Senyshyn said Tuesday on the first day of Bruins development camp at Ristuccia Arena. “But I’m very confident in my abilities. I’m ready to be able to show this team that they took me for a reason.
âIâve got a lot of expectations of myself. I think that I take a lot of pride in my abilities, and I really want to kind of prove to not just the staff and the people that believed in me, but also the fans in Boston, that Iâll be a good player for this team in the future.â
Regardless of Senyshyn’s draft position, there’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to his talent. He scored 26 goals for the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds last season despite primarily playing bottom-six minutes and not receiving much power-play ice time. The 18-year-old winger blends a high level of offensive skill with a physical edge and a responsible defensive game.
“I think I model my game a little bit after Chris Kreider,” Senyshyn said. “Just that explosive player that really plays with a lot of speed and pace. I want to be able to score some goals like he can to.”
Tuesday’s practices didn’t feature many traditional hockey drills, but it wasn’t difficult to realize Senyshyn is a fantastic skater and should be a dangerous player off the rush at the NHL level.
“You can tell right away how powerful of a skater he is,” Bruins development coach Jay Pandolfo said.
“He’s young, you can tell he still hasn’t really matured, even his body, so he’s just going to keep getting better. You can tell right away the explosiveness he has. I think he has a lot of room to grow. It’s exciting to see what he has.”
This camp is an opportunity for Senyshyn and the other 36 players to display their skills for the Bruins coaching staff, but learning about the city, the team’s culture/history and what it takes to be a professional hockey player on and off the ice are other really important objectives this week.
“I was a rookie in the OHL this year,” Senyshyn said. “I’m still a pretty young guy, I just really want to soak up as much as possible. The staff here is so incredible and it’s a really huge learning process for me.
“I think I’m really just scratching the surface with my potential. I just want to take in as much as possible and really kind of take my game to the next level and start my path to being a pro.”
Thumbnail photo via Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports Images
