In Between Prospect And Veteran Status, Vatrano Looking To Earn Bruins' Attention
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Now 23 years old with 83 regular-season NHL games of experience, Frank Vatrano has graduated from prospect status, especially with the influx of younger Bruins forwards that are competing for jobs at camp.
But Vatrano hasn't quite earned the status of an established NHL player, which coach Bruce Cassidy made clear early in training camp.
"I don't want to call him an automatic because we are trying to create competition," Cassidy said. "Frank has played good games in the National Hockey League, so he's certainly a guy that I would consider a National Hockey League player. I do believe he would like to move up in the lineup and get more minutes, more important minutes. So I will sort of concede that point that absolutely he's a guy that wants to grow into a bigger role."
Vatrano's development slowed down last season. After he used the 2015-16 campaign to score a point per game in the AHL and chip in eight goals in the NHL as a rookie, his second season didn't begin until he returned from injury Dec. 22, 2016. He scored in his first game and was on a pretty decent offensive pace, even as the Bruins struggled to score under Claude Julien.
The coaching change to Cassidy was supposed to be a panacea for an offensive talent of Vatrano's caliber, but he didn't score a goal after Feb. 22 in the regular season. He scored in Game 1 of the six-game first round loss to Ottawa, but then was held off the board. He finished with 10 goals in 44 games.
Safe to say that partly because of his injury and partly because of his production dip, Vatrano opened the door for prospects like Anders Bjork, Jake DeBrusk and Danton Heinen close the gap in the competition to be in the Bruins' top six.
However, he doesn't feel overlooked just because those guys are garnering the type of attention that was going his way before he was injured just before the start of training camp.
"I think Boston knows what I'm capable of doing and they're going to be hard on me. I know they're my bosses and they want me to play to the best of my ability night in and night out, I know that," he said. "I need to be a better overall player and I need to bring a good game every single night. The onus is on me to bring it every single night and I'm looking forward to doing that."
Vatrano's NHL experience may give him a leg up on the upstarts to win the chance to play left wing with David Krejci and David Pastrnak, or even right wing next to Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. Of course, either lineup spot would require a level of defensive play that Vatrano has hardly shown during his two NHL seasons.
Heading into camp he's focused his attention to the details he has to take care of away from the puck in an effort to round out his game, and he's well aware of the limitations he has to overcome.
"I know in my head defensive zone comes slower to me than most other guys," he said. "For me, everyone sees my shot but I want to be that guy that can hold onto pucks and make a lot of plays. I don't want to be a one-trick pony. For sure it's just bringing that 200-foot game and consistency is the biggest thing for me."
Vatrano has also learned to deal with scoring slumps, which can affect other aspects of his game. He said he'll often lean on teammates for support, or sometimes even call home like a college kid looking for encouragement before a big exam. Being driving distance from his Longmeadow home means sometimes he can use a break in the schedule to get away, but mostly he sticks around Boston. He often gets visits from friends and family, especially for games, and he keeps the circle around him tight.
"When you come to the rink every day, it's going to a job, it's a business day in and day out," Vatrano said. "So when you get to go home you kind of get to relax, kind of get away from hockey, get to call a friend or two, call your parents. It's nice to get to talk to them, about other things too, not just hockey."
Vatrano's goal is to get people beyond his family to start talking about him again.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter@MattKalman.
