Bruins sign AHLer to multi-year contract extension
The Bruins have inked a member of their 2019 draft class and current P-Bruins skater to a multi-year extension.
MONTREAL, QC – NOVEMBER 26: A detail of the Boston Bruins logo is seen during the third period against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on November 26, 2019 in Montreal, Canada. The Boston Bruins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 8-1.
Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty ImagesThe Bruins spent over half a decade waiting for Jake Schmaltz to finally turn pro, and they're not ready to call it quits with his development just yet.
The club made that official on Tuesday, too, with Schmaltz signed to a two-year, AHL contract extension through the 2027-28 season. The extension was announced by P-Bruins general manager (and NHL Bruins assistant general manager) Evan Gold.
Jumping out of the NCAA ranks and into the pro game at the end of the 2024-25 season, Schmaltz has posted five goals and 12 points through 28 AHL games to date.
This season, Schmaltz has scored four goals and 11 points through 24 games, and has spent the majority of his campaign as Providence's fourth-line center.
Originally drafted by the Bruins with a seventh-round pick (No. 192 overall) in 2019, Schmaltz, who is the cousin of Utah center Nick Schmaltz, is the Bruins' last pick standing from their 2019 draft class.
That class was obviously headlined by first-round pick Johnny Beecher, but Beecher never elevated himself beyond a fourth-line role during his time in Boston, and was ultimately lost to the Flames via the NHL's waiver wire earlier this season.
Elsewhere on the '19 draft board, third-round pick Quinn Olson and sixth-round pick Matias Mantykivi went unsigned by the Bruins, while fifth-round pick Roman Bychkov has shown no signs of a willingness to leave Russia and remains on a reserve list. That's if the Bruins even wanted to sign him, which seems unlikely given the fact that he's yet to be able to break into a full-time KHL gig at this point in his career.
Of course, signing Schmaltz to an AHL extension means very little when it comes to salvaging that draft class, especially considering that he's ineligible to be recalled to the NHL until he signs a standard NHL contract.
It's obviously worth noting that the Bruins have shown a willingness to sign AHL standouts to standard NHL contracts if their performance warrants it, with Justin Brazeau standing out as a recent success story on that front.
