Boston Bruins: Prospect Andrew Bodnarchuk's Persistence Paying Off

Andrew Bodnarchuk was supposed to be the Providence Bruins’ resident Crash Davis. A “dubious honor” in the form of the AHL team’s all-time career games-played record was barely within hooking distance at the tail end of his fourth professional season.

That pace, however, was likely “ruined” when the young defenseman was called up to Boston, as he was informed privately on Sunday and as was disclosed to the public Monday.

The implicit rationale of the transaction is chiefly to give seventh blueliner Steven Kampfer a more satisfying stream of game action in Providence. Bodnarchuk will fill his spot as a Boston reserve for Tuesday night’s home date with the New York Rangers and the team’s subsequent six-game road trip.

If the need for extra service arises, Bodnarchuk will see his first lick of regular-season NHL action since the conclusion of the 2009-10 season. But regardless of what he garners, this will constitute his second significant stint in Boston, the other being a nine-day stay consisting of five games played in April 2010.

And it will at least be a starting point towards rewarding nearly four full years of grit and grunt work that has inevitably has him ingraining his name in the heads of the Providence fanbase and the pages of the team history annals.

In last week’s two-night visit to the St. John’s IceCaps, Bodnarchuk surpassed Peter Laviolette for the third slot on the P-Bruins’ appearances leaderboard. He entered the weekend needing to dress for at least 26 of the team’s remaining 27 games to break Jay Henderson’s record of 278 outings.

When he was pulled from the active lineup prior to Sunday’s bout with the Albany Devils, any hopes for that milestone all but went moot. Bodnarchuk figures to accompany the parent club on its forthcoming road trip, which will cover six stops in a span of 11 days.

That means likely missing as many as six AHL games while Kampfer continuously hones his blades on the farm for the next two weekends. In turn, that means only an extension for an unheard-of fifth season in the organization, with a hefty hunk spent in the minors, can replenish Bodnarchuk’s shot at the record.

Then again, what exactly were those first 254 twirls with the P-Bruins for?

The 23-year-old Bodnarchuk is not like Laviolette, who concluded his decade-long playing career at the age of 32 with 41 games as the Baby Bs’ player/assistant coach in 1996-97. In terms of what is potentially ahead of him, Laviolette was Reg Dunlop, whereas Bodnarchuk is Ned Braden.

How much fulfillment he ultimately attains at the next level is as great a question as where he will get it. With six seasoned, established NHL defensemen in place, plus Kampfer and 2011 first-round draft choice Dougie Hamilton up-and-coming, one has to wonder if general manager Peter Chiarelli timed this call-up as a means of dangling Bodnarchuk as another trade deadline commodity.

On the other hand, Bodnarchuk carries the coveted phrase “puck-moving defenseman” with him. And repeat injuries, the last of which kept him out of action for opening weekend this season, are the chief reason his offensive stats are not up to the same par as fellow Providence point patrollers Matt Bartkowski and David Warsofsky.

After dissatisfying trials with Dennis Wideman and Tomas Kaberle and now a so-so first season with Joe Corvo, there is an outside shot the Bruins might open a spot for Bodnarchuk to fill that special two-way role in 2012-13. Although, that could depend on how far along Hamilton is in his own development.

Either way, Bodnarchuk has confected himself a sufficient foundation through his 254 outings in Providence, including 73 with an alternate captain’s “A” over his heart.

Fate may deny him the “dubious honor,” but Monday’s move may turn him in the direction of a more coveted privilege in the NHL.