The Vancouver Canucks are swinging for the fences.
In an attempt to salvage a disastrous start to their season, the Canucks pulled the trigger on a trade on Thursday evening, acquiring forward Jack Studnicka from the Boston Bruins in exchange for goaltender Michael DiPietro and defenseman Jonathan Myrenberg.
The deal is an intriguing one, which sees both teams take a flier on two formerly high-touted prospects who have run into some struggles in recent years.
Studnicka, on one hand, was a second-round pick of the Bruins back in 2017 who put up explosive numbers throughout his final year of junior and carried that production into the professional ranks, becoming a consistent AHL scorer over the past five seasons. The issue for Studnicka, however, is that he’s been unable to crack the Bruins’ lineup with consistency, suiting up for a total of just 38 games to this point, including one this season. At 23 years old, Studnicka now must be put on waivers in order to be sent to the AHL, forcing the Bruins to risk losing him for free. And with no clear path to regular minutes on the NHL roster in his future, Studnicka was stuck in press box purgatory.
Now, he has a chance to deliver on his potential in Vancouver, joining a Canucks team that is reeling at the moment and needs offensive and defensive help of any kind. With some size and snarl to his game, Studnicka could perhaps help their cause in some way. Yet his development has seemingly stagnated in recent years, leaving one to wonder just how much his addition will move the needle.
As for the Bruins’ end of things, the team is taking a chance on their own reclamation project, hoping to squeeze some value out of a formerly high-ranked goaltending prospect in DiPietro.
DiPietro fell into the same numbers game that Studnicka did when it came to cracking the lineup, finding himself getting leapfrogged by a number of prospects on the Canucks’ depth chart that left no real path for him to break into their NHL crease. Since turning pro, DiPietro has appeared in just three total games for the Canucks, starting just two, while ultimately losing each contest. A change of scenery is clearly needed. And, now, he has it.
Myrenberg was a fifth-round pick of the Canucks back in 2021 and is currently playing for Mora IK of the SHL.
