The Bruins made a couple of moves in the aftermath of last month’s development camp, and another one of those dominoes fell on Tuesday when they announced the signing of Russian draft pick Pavel Shen to a three-year deal.
Shen had to terminate his KHL/MHL contract with Tolpar Ufa in order to pave the way to come to Boston this fall for both rookie camp and NHL training camp.
The three-year entry level deal goes through the 2021-22 NHL season and will pay the young forward $809,167 per season as he gives North American hockey a try after playing in the KHL over the last couple of seasons. The 19-year-old has appeared in 49 KHL games over the last two seasons with a couple of goals and three points, and tore up the Russian Junior Hockey League (MHL) with 12 goals and 27 points in 34 games over the last two years.
Shen was a seventh round pick (212th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, and was a bright spot at this past June’s development camp in Boston showing both a playmaking flair and some pretty strong puck possession skills for a young player. The skating and goal-scoring were also pretty good, and the performance certainly merited a chance to see how good he can be at the AHL and NHL levels over the next few years.
Given Shen’s age, the transition from the KHL to North American hockey and the change in culture, it’s not expected that the 6-foot, 190-pound youngster is going to be in serious competition for a forward spot in Boston this fall. But bringing Shen over to Providence will be a better place for his development than his spot as a reserve player in the KHL over the last couple of seasons, and should accelerate the growth in a player who's got some offensive skills.
Here's what we had to say about Shen during last month’s development camp.
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