It wasn’t much of a surprise last week when the American Hockey League canceled the remainder of their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the league needing gate money and fans in the stands to survive, playing games in empty arenas was never really an option for the AHL.

Playing their final game of the season on March 11, the Providence Bruins won their final 12 contests, finishing the season first in the Eastern Conference with 82 points, eight points behind the Milwaukee Admirals in all of the AHL.

With things clicking for the Providence Bruins, head coach Jay Leach and his players are left wondering what could have been in a normal world.

As much as not being able to finish the season was a kick in the gut, Leach fully understands there are much more important things in life than hockey at the moment.

“I would like to start and say I fully recognize the situation we’re in with this country and the world and by no means is us making a run at a Calder Cup more important than the frontline workers. I want to make sure I make that clear,” Leach said Monday morning on a call with the Bruins media.

“With regards to our season, it was definitely disappointing. We were just clicking at the right time. We had won I think 12 in a row and our players, more importantly our younger guys were really coming along and hitting their stride.”

With a nice blend of veterans and youth on the roster, the Bruins were getting everything they needed for a successful playoff run with top-notch goaltending, timely scoring and stout defense.

“We had two goalies that were really at the top of the league which we all know is probably your most important key down the stretch here,” said Leach. “We were getting scoring from all four lines and our defense was pretty shored up. We certainly were a team that looked like we could make a run.”

If you poke your head around the league, you’ll find many outside of the Bruins organization don’t believe the Bruins to have a very deep or talented minor league system.

Sure, the Bruins have some nice pieces like Jack Studnicka, Urho Vaakanainen or Trent Frederic, but the appreciation for the Bruins depth from outside the organization is just not there.

“I think organizationally we’ve tried to tackle this for the last several years--has been a combination of a very competitive player and a heady player. [He] obviously has some sort of ability in regards to the speed of the game. He has to have that ability just to keep up and I think as a group, we’ve got that,” said Leach.

“But what I think stands apart from I’d like to think, other organizations is that we’ve got a crop of kids that has done pretty well here in Providence. [A group] that all competes at I think the highest level and can play a style of game that mandates they have some intelligence. I think that’s something the Bruins take pride in. It starts with Bergy (Patrice Bergeron) and Marchy (Brad Marchand) and Z, (Zdeno Chara) and all these guys that have played so many years and have had success and it’s something we’ve certainly tried to tackle down here.”

With the AHL season now over, the next focus for Leach and management becomes which players from Providence join the Bruins as black aces for their playoff run once hockey is able to safely return to play.

Usually an organization will have an idea of which players will get the call, but thanks to the uncertain circumstances surrounding the game and what the roster rules will look like when hockey returns, Leach can only speculate who he thinks it may be.

“To be honest, I don’t think anyone has any clue because from what I understand, to give you an exact answer, I don’t think we can do it because we don’t know the size of the group,” said Leach.

“But this is really just my best guess, it’s the guys we always talk about. It’s the Studnickas, the Frederics, and then it just matters. If you have five guys, it’s Study (Studnicka), it’s Freddy (Frederic), it's [Jakub] Zboril, it’s Vaaks (Vaakanainen) and (Steven) Kampfer. I’m not even calling (Karson) Kuhlman in that mix because he was in Boston more. It’s really tough to nail it down. I'd go with those four or five to start and then where does it end?”

One name Leach did not mention was forward Zach Senyshyn. Selected by the Bruins in the 1st round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, the 23-year old hasn’t quite developed as quickly as you would like to see from a 23-year old former first round draft pick.

But according to Leach, things were really starting to settle down for Senyshyn and the forward is exactly where he needs to be in his development.

“We were very excited for where Zach was going through that stretch, really the last five, six weeks. I saw speed, I saw willingness to get to the net, I saw willingness to be F1 on the forecheck and with that came offensive opportunities and he began to cash in a bit,” said Leach. “But in our mind and in Seny’s mind, he’s exactly where he is and needs to be and he’s starting to really develop.”

Despite the P-Bruins having veteran leaders in the room such as Kampfer, Paul Carey, Brendan Gaunce and Brendan Woods, Leach was happy to see younger guys like Senyshyn and Vaakanainen step up into more of a leadership role.

“Seny to be honest as always had a likability to him. If you don’t know him, he’s a very likable guy. He’s very dearing and as he matured, he started to have a little bit more of a voice in the room,” said Leach.

“Vaakanaien, whether it’s a leadership role or whatever, he certainly showed a big leap from year one to year two just in his maturity and comfortably in being in the room and having a bit of a voice and just a real presence in there.”

As Bergeron and David Krejci continue to age, the Bruins hope that with Studnicka and Frederic, the organization has two suitable replacements for whenever that day comes when #37 and #46 are no longer a dynamic one-two punch down the middle in Boston.

Studnicka led Providence in goals, (23) assists (26) and points (49) in 60 games.

“Study really had a terrific year, 20-year old kid. Jumps right in, plays every real scenario. Down the stretch I was really leaning on him and Cameron Hughes as the guys to seal some games out for us,” said Leach. “His competitiveness, his speed, his hockey sense has really shown through and he was able to be very productive on both sides of the puck. I think he had a terrific year.”

Frederic brings a bit of a different skillset to the table than Studnicka does. While Studnicka is more of a speedy, playmaking center, Frederic is a heavier body and is more aggressive on the forecheck.

"He’s got so many different attributes that not many have. He’s obviously a bigger guy that has a heck of a shot and can get up and down the ice,” Leach said of Frederic. “Then you add the physical component he has with confrontation more than anything being a part of his game.”

Whether it’s one or two, even four or five, the Bruins have some tough decisions to make when it comes time to fill out their playoff roster with black aces for what is hopefully a return to the Stanley Cup Final.

Hopefully a return with a different result.

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