Alex Bump makes the jump

We\'re still well and truly deep in the doldrums of the offseason, and while much of our focus has shifted to getting ready for the new season coming up, we\'re not quite ready to full turn away from this past season. This is, after a bit of a hiatus, we\'re back and breaking down how the prospect group performed in their time with the Phantoms last season.

Alex Bump may have had a short stint with the team at the end of the year -- just nine games between the end of the regular season and the playoffs -- but that handful of games was meaningful in a big way, and has set him up to be even better prepared to the full-time jump to pro hockey come the Fall.

Games played Goals Assists Points PIM Shots on goal Shooting percentage 2 1 2 3 0 5 20

We\'ll begin here by looking at his output through the pair of games he got in for at the end of the regular season, and they were quite productive on the whole. Joining the team on the heels of his National Championship win and contract signing, Bump didn\'t get much in the way of practice time to prepare him for that first weekend of action, but momentum ended up carrying him through nicely -- he picked up an assist in his very first games, and showed a nice amount of jump in that huge 7-3 win over the Cleveland Monsters, and then took another step forward in his next game, picking up a goal and an another assist in the Phantoms\' win against Hershey to close out the regular season. He was noticeable in big ways throughout those games, doing well to support the team\'s offense and get them tangibly on the board, but also creating a good volume of chances along the way.

Games Played Goals Assists Points PIM Shots on goal Shooting percentage 7 2 0 2 2 18 11.1

And that momentum carried through into the postseason for him -- or at least the beginning of them. Bump started the postseason hot, with a pair of goals in the Phantoms\' Game 1 win over the Penguins, and then followed it up nicely with a Game 2 which, while being held off the board, was still a noticeable force with the puck, and still chipped in three shots on goal. And then as we moved into the series against Hershey, Bump started well -- seemingly being everywhere in the first game and putting up a whopping eight individual shots on goal -- but began to fizzle out as the series wore on. After that hot start, he found even less space to work with, and was only able to average a single shot on goal per game through the last four, and failed to register a single point.

Three Questions

Did he live up to expectations?

If nothing else, Bump was coming into his first stint of AHL action with some momentum in hand. Coming off a successful regular season and conference postseason, and a run in the Frozen Four which saw him held off the board but still showing up as one of the most noticeable players on the ice on the way to Western Michigan\'s National Championship win. And he jumped in with the Phantoms and showed some serious pop, and the transition was looking pretty seamless for him -- a feeling he also emphasized both after his Phantoms debut and in the team\'s last practice before their play-in series against the Penguins (where he showed up with those two goals in the opener).

As the playoffs went on, though, Bump didn\'t look as dominant as some might have expected, but with all things considered, that kind of feels more like the fault of the expectations, rather than the player. That is, the jump from postseason action in the NCAA\'s most physical conference to regular season AHL play might not be such a steep one, but the jump to playing deeper in the AHL postseason against the two-time defending Calder Cup champs in a best-of-five series is another thing entirely. Bump struggled as the physicality ramped up and as he was given less time and space to work with, and while some of these very well could have been due to feeling some of the attrition of a long season, it was also in part a product of the jump in levels catching up to him. And while this really should have been built into the expectations, it would be fair if some fans felt some disappointment or surprise that the player who couldn\'t seem to be slowed down through the whole season suddenly was in the end here.

What would we like to see him improve on next season?

With that in mind, it\'s come pretty easily into focus just what Bump should be working on this season. He\'ll have to put some work in over the summer to continue to add some strength -- something he touched on back at Development Camp as a point of emphasis in his summer training plans -- but he\'ll also have to work on his puck protection and decision making while under pressure, to avoid getting pushed off the puck and having his offensive game stifled as much as he was by the end of the postseason. It\'s understandable, these growing pains that he\'s working through, and this area is something that the organization wants to focus on with all of its players, not just Bump. The Phantoms\' new head coach John Snowden even touched on it in last week\'s introductory press conference -- when talking about what he and Rick Tocchet want to see from players to consider them NHL ready, he explained, \"for us, it’s being able to play with people around you, like inside contact, guys on your back, inviting contact, we feel the same way, because it’s hard to play against them.\"

The developmental setting at Western Michigan might well have set Bump up just about as well as possible to make the jump to the pros, but that doesn\'t mean he\'s a completely finished project. Competition at this level is going to be even more physical and defenses are going to close up on him even faster, and that\'s something he\'s going to have to adjust to. We have full belief that he can get there, to be sure, but it\'s going to take some time and reps to get there.

What can we expect from him next season?

Next season is certainly going to be an interesting one for Bump. While there are parts of his game that still need tinkering with, they\'re not necessarily things that absolutely have to be worked on outside of the NHL, and with Tyson Foerster\'s status heading into the season still unknown, it remains a distinct possibility that Bump will get to make a real run at earning a spot with the big club out of camp, and a chance to continue to grow his game at the highest level. Bump\'s put himself in just about as favorable of a position as possible heading into this training camp, shown enough to have management feeling that he\'s just about ready to make the jump to the NHL level. And while we\'re certainly not ruling out the possibility of a patient approach being taken and him seeing some time down with the Phantoms in order to work on his game with the development staff (and the increasingly development leaning coaching staff down at that level), it feels like all but a certainty that he\'s going to get some NHL games under his belt this season.

Talking Points