Brian Bartlett, the agent for pending Bruins free agent Austin Czarnik, has told Mark Divver of the Providence Journal that his client has drawn ‘overwhelming interest,’ with ‘two thirds of the teams in the NHL’ reaching out to his client.
Outside interest is not exactly shocking, as the 5-foot-9 Czarnik scored 25 goals and totaled 69 points in 64 games for the P-Bruins this past season, and his 69 points were just two behind Chris Terry’s 71 for the most in all of the AHL.
In addition to his numbers alone, NHL teams are always on the lookout for affordable depth scoring, and Czarnik’s versatility as a player that can play both center and the wing certainly helps his cause. Teams are also looking for the next diamond in the rough, especially after the success of other late-bloomers such as the Golden Knights’ Jonathan Marchessault, who had spent over 300 games in the AHL and went through three different organizations before scoring 30 goals at the NHL level.
A group six free agent and seemingly log-jammed by the Black and Gold’s newest wave of youth and top-tier forward prospects, Czarnik outright told the B’s last month that he was intrigued by his chances of an NHL shot on the open market.
“Czarnik is going to be a group six [free agent]. We’ve had discussions with Austin. I think Austin is intrigued by what may exist elsewhere,” Sweeney said last month. “We certainly haven’t closed the door [on returning], I don’t think he has as well.”
An undrafted free agent out of Miami University (Ohio), Czarnik has spent his entire professional career to date with the Bruins organization, and has amassed 51 goals and 155 points in 157 AHL games.
Czarnik has five goals and 17 points in 59 career NHL games, including four assists in 10 games last year.