Boston Bruins: Zach Hamill Earned, Made the Most of His Latest Promotion

Zach Hamill went back to reality without a fuss on Sunday when he rejoined the Providence Bruins after a two-game, four-day call-up to Boston. Less than 24 hours after partaking in a 6-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden, he went 40 miles west to Worcester, where he scored the first goal en route to a 3-2 Providence road win.

With that, the seventh overall choice in the 2007 NHL Draft continues to build upon what has easily been his most productive start in four full professional seasons. Prior to his emergency promotion to fill the depth chart cavities left by Daniel Paille and Rich Peverley, he already had a team-leading five goals and 10 points through 14 AHL games.

All of those points came in the month of October, which was previously a bane for the late-blooming forward. His 2008-09 rookie campaign was belated by an injury and in the previous two seasons, he had collected a cumulative six points, all of them assists, in the opening month.

After connecting on Sunday, Hamill’s AHL totals on the year are now 6-5-11 through 15 appearances with Providence. It took him 16 games to reach 11 points last year, but only one of those was a goal.

Likewise, at the 15-game mark of 2009-10, he had a 1-8-9 scoring transcript. The year prior, he collected three goals within his first 15 outings.

Hamill took 29 games to reach six goals as an AHL rookie, 37 ventures in 2009-10 and a whopping 53 appearances last season.

This year, he has not only reversed his steadily cooling trend. He has nearly doubled his production rate from where it was at this time in his first season. All the more impressive considering how offensively challenged Providence has been with only 35 regulation goals through its first 17 games.

Hamill’s playmaking output has never been outright reprehensible. In his first three full AHL seasons, the exception being his first, Providence has missed the Calder Cup playoffs, yet he has mustered 30 or more assists in back-to-back years.

This season, on a team that is hardly guaranteed to finally return to the postseason, Hamill is still passing when he must and reaping reasonable rewards for it. But he is also shooting when the time is right and is finding more seams.

As a rookie, he made something out of a little with 13 goals out of 88 shots on net for a 14.8 shooting percentage. The following year, he upped his attempt total to 146, but added only one more goal for 14 out of 146, dropping his accuracy down to 9.6 percent. And in 2010-11, he scored but nine times out of 119 registered stabs for a 7.6 percent success rate.

At his pace, Hamill could supply the P-Bruins with as many as 29 goals―more than twice his current career high―on 163 shots on net. That translates to another career-high with an 18 percent shooting percentage.

In addition, if he suits up for at least 49 of the remaining 59 games on the AHL Bruins schedule, he will surpass Jay Henderson for most appearances in Providence history.

All of this, of course, is barring too many more promotions to the parent club. But based on his performance against Edmonton and Buffalo last week, that should not be such a toe-curling prospect.

On Thursday, Hamill was on the ice for two of Boston’s six goals and none of the Oilers’ three. He capitalized on an Edmonton turnover and set up Jordan Caron to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead at 8:55 of the first period.

Less than 10 minutes later, he drew a roughing penalty on Theo Peckham. At 1:05 of the third period, he was a willing victim of a Corey Potter high-stick that gave Boston another power play.

Hamill was also on the ice for eight Boston shots on goal (two off his own stick) as opposed to six by Edmonton on a night when the Oilers won the shooting gallery, 30-28.

Against Buffalo, Hamill took one minor penalty, but also threw a legal check on Robyn Regehr and earned a plus-one rating when he was on the ice for Chris Kelly’s goal at 5:28 of the third.

What does this mean for Hamill’s future with the Bruins? The fact that he winged for Kelly means there is an outside shot that he could still become an established Boston player by flexibly circumventing the gridlock at his standard center position.

But more likely, especially if he expresses a preference to play the pivot, he will be better served going to another organization. And if he continues to foster his burgeoning value in both Providence and Boston, he should help himself and his present employer by finding more suitors with ideal compensation.

Either way, selecting him in the first place is not doomed to be a regrettable choice after all.