"You've got to kind of feel out some guys," Ahcan said following Monday's practice at Warrior Ice Arena. "It's a bigger, stronger, faster league. He had a step on me a little bit. Kind of made a last ditched effort to get him off the puck. Felt kind of good to get that feeling of his body and see how strong and heavy he is."
Ahcan, who had compiled 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists) in 17 games for Providence, acquitted himself quite well in his season debut despite playing his off side for much of the night. The blue liner landed two shots on goal and a hit in 15:31 of ice time, while displaying his patented puck-moving ability out of the Bruins' zone.
"He played more to his identity as a player," said Bruins assistant coach Joe Sacco. "We talked to Jack before about what he needed to do, and it was play his game. He's a guy that transitions the puck well. He can jump up in the play at the right time and try to create some offense for us off the rush, on the attack, and also be good at the offensive blue line. That's another area we felt he could help us in.
"I thought he did a good job. The biggest thing we were looking is for him to be a responsible player in his own end. He did it. He did a good job. He was competitive, didn't seem out of place last game, anyway, against a good hockey club. It was a good game for Jack…he looked like he was more comfortable last game."
Ahcan concurred, acknowledging that he feels more at ease in his latest go-around with the big club. The Minnesota native pointed to the challenges that came with the pandemic-shortened season - his first professional campaign - as being roadblocks that stood in the way of becoming completely comfortable with life at both the AHL and NHL levels.
"Getting in a few times last year, was a little scrambly," said Ahcan, who played three games with Boston in 2020-21. "Getting back to it this year, it was pretty sweet…it was nice getting the full camp in before the season. Last year was kind of a quick camp and just played two teams last year [in the AHL], not even in our rink. The rink was a vaccine center down at the [Dunkin' Donuts Center], so we were playing in Marlborough against the same two teams, so this year's it's been nice to get accustomed to a regular AHL season.
"Even going on the road and stuff, getting in late, just kind of adapting to a regular AHL season. We didn't really get that last year. Every game was at 1 [o'clock]…you have a full week of practice, and you play one game on the weekend. The same two teams. It's nice to get it out of the way this year."