From trade afterthought to playoff hero: How did Sean Kuraly get here?
Sean Kuraly went from being largely unknown to saving the Boston Bruins' season.
His first NHL goal tied Game 5 of the Bruins' first-round series against the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, and his second career marker ended the double-overtime affair while helping Boston stave off elimination.
Unless you're a hardcore Bruins fan or a college hockey aficionado, you might not be too familiar with the 24-year-old center. So just how did he go from relative obscurity to scoring an overtime winner in the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
Until Friday night's heroics, Kuraly was essentially the answer to a trivia question.
He wasn't a highly touted prospect, falling to the fifth round in the 2011 draft before the San Jose Sharks chose him 133rd overall. Before his Game 5 double dip, Kuraly was primarily known for being part of the package that netted the Sharks their No. 1 goaltender, Martin Jones.
In late June 2015, the Sharks shipped Kuraly to Boston along with a 2016 first-round pick that became prospect Trent Frederic in exchange for Jones. While the netminder was obviously the centerpiece of the deal, Kuraly was more than just a throw-in.
He was specifically targeted by John Ferguson Jr., Bruins executive director of player personnel, who served as the Sharks' director of pro scouting from 2008-14.
Here's how that went down, as described by The Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa in July 2015:
Ferguson knew Kuraly from San Jose's development camps. He tracked Kuraly’s progress at Miami. In December of 2012, before the 2013 World Junior Championship, Ferguson watched Kuraly in pre-tournament practices in Tarrytown, N.Y. It was then, because of Kuraly’s skating and size as a center, that Ferguson was confident he would become an NHL player.
At the time of the deal, Kuraly had finished his junior season at Miami of Ohio, where he was a teammate of Bruins prospect Austin Czarnik. Kuraly scored 19 goals in 40 games for the RedHawks that season, the most he'd tally in any of his collegiate campaigns.
After serving as Miami's captain for his senior season, he joined the Bruins' AHL club in Providence in 2016-17, posting 14 goals and 26 points in 54 games. He was summoned for eight NHL games in the regular season, but failed to make much of an impact, collecting a single assist.
Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has given Kuraly several chances to prove himself in the playoffs, inserting him into the lineup for Games 1 and 2 against the Senators, and Kuraly's most recent opportunity came at the expense of Ryan Spooner.
Kuraly proved much more than a footnote to Spooner's Game 5 benching with a two-goal performance that helped Boston force Game 6.
He didn't come out of nowhere, but he wasn't exactly on the hockey world's collective radar until Friday's heroics. Still, whether he sticks in the lineup for good or ultimately needs more time to develop consistency, Kuraly has already proven he's more than an afterthought.