Former Ottawa Senator Thriving So Far With More Ice Time From The Boston Bruins

Former Ottawa Senator Mark Kastelic seems to have been well served by a change of address.

Kastelic spent four seasons in the Sens organization, with the last two as a full-time player. At 6-foot-4 and 226 pounds, the smooth-skating Arizona native was the prototypical fourth-line center. He could crash and bang and hold his own in a scrap with just about anyone.

The point totals were never there in Ottawa, but he was still in development mode and didn’t play much. Under head coach D.J. Smith and his replacement, interim coach Jacques Martin, Kastelic’s average ice time per game was just 7:43 last season.

Like any NHL player, he wanted more.

Finally, after a game in February, Kastelic did something rarely seen in Sens history. After a 6-3 win over Columbus—when Martin gave him 4:46 of ice time—he kept his skates on, and while the last few fans were still trickling out of the arena, he went back out to get some ice time, skating and doing puck drills by himself.

Kastelic said he was simply trying to stay sharp after a game where he hadn’t played much. That may well be true, but it’s also possible there was some frustration and message-sending involved.

When he was traded last summer to Boston as part of the Linus Ullmark deal, it wasn’t because Ottawa had lost faith in him. The Sens just wanted a franchise goalie and had to give something to get something in return.

But the Bruins had bigger plans for the 25-year-old. They’ve bumped up his average ice time this season to 12:14—four and a half minutes more than he had in Ottawa—and it’s paid off early. Kastelic has seven points in his first 15 games, not bad for a player whose previous career high was 11 points in 65 games.

Kastelic says he had a great summer of training and worked hard to earn head coach Jim Montgomery’s trust at training camp. He feels that’s resulted in more opportunity.

“With more ice time, there’s more opportunity to contribute offensively, and I’m being thrown into different offensive situations,” Kastelic told reporters in Boston yesterday. “I have great linemates around me, and we feed off each other well, which has allowed us all to have success offensively this year.”

Whether it was a lack of ice time or being traded away from his friends and teammates, Kastelic bears no ill will toward the team that selected him in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft. The Sens were the team that gave him a shot as a 20-year-old after he was passed over in both the 2017 and 2018 drafts.

“I have nothing but good things to say about the organization,” Kastelic said. “You can clearly see they’re heading in the right direction still, so I wish them nothing but the best. I have a lot of positive memories there, and I grew a lot.”

Kastelic is grateful for his time in Ottawa, but he’s now focused on making the most of his opportunity in Boston. Naturally, he’ll always have some Sens fans cheering him along the way.

Just not tonight.

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