A week ago we fielded a team in Chicago that had only Carlo, Gryz, Kuhlman and McAvoy from amongst our regular 19 starters, plus Lindholm, Bjork, Cehlarik, Frederic, Gaunce and Kampfer who have at least some NHL experience. That squad went up against a pretty strong Blackhawks unit that had the likes of Kane, Toews, Strome, DeBrincat, Saad, Gustafsson and Murphy, and only lost 3-2 in OT, having been competitive for the entire game.
Now it isn't like for like as the Bruins were stronger in this latest game than the Hawks were last week, and the Rockford team was even less experienced than what the Bs had on the ice back in Chicago, but I think it still makes the point that the Bs prospects and depth are pretty good and if there actually was a game of Providence vs a full Blackhawks team then on most nights the Hawks wouldn't be winning by 6 goals (which could easily have been more last night). Sure they'd win, but I don't think it would be a complete blowout.
So as the pre-season closes and we move on to the real stuff with pretty much the same squad as last season and no new youngsters yet quite jumping up and snatching a spot (although if Bjork does indeed miss he'll have every right to feel hard done by), I think we can still be fairly content that we've seen good development from the likes of Bjork, Studnicka, Steen, Vaak, Lauko, Keyser, Lauzon and others, and they'll continue to progress down in Providence, and, even if they're not quite NHL ready now, the majority of them sooner or later will be.
No question, they're not top 5 prospects ranked against the rest of the league - that just wouldn't be possible with the Bs having been at the pointy end of the table for most of the last decade - but they're not 29th or wherever most of the 'experts' have placed them in the last few weeks either. They're probably somewhere in the middle, and that will do in the circumstances.