The exact odds of that? Who knows? The sole guarantee on hockey’s menu is that there are no guarantees, often served up with large side orders of frustration and shattered dreams for anyone who might believe otherwise.

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Eight-plus years of the professional game — including very brief tours with the Senators, Kings, Sabres, and Canucks — have made that clear to Wolanin. Just last June, he helped lead the Abbotsford Canucks to the AHL’s Calder Cup championship, only soon to find out how hard it would be to land work for 2025-26.

“To actually close the job and raise that trophy was more special than I ever could have predicted,” said Wolanin, reached by phone late in the week ahead of a Providence road game at Hershey. “Because, you know, not many kids grow up dreaming of winning the Calder Cup. Unless you have an AHL team in your city, it’s kind of a sneaky or forgotten-about trophy. But to do it, really it was one of the most proud moments I’ve been a part of.”

However, three years of solid production in Abbotsford ultimately brought him to a dead end in the Canucks farm system. The AHL, at its core, is a developmental league, with rules strictly governing how many veterans each team can stock. Upon wrapping up last season, Wolanin had 332 pro games, including 86 in the NHL, on his rèsumè.

It becomes a trickier fit for veterans, once they have reached 320 pro games, to find a spot on an AHL roster. Their eligibility to sign is based on myriad factors, including limits to the number of veterans signed to play defense and forward (goalies are excluded) with a particular team. With Wolanin over the threshold, and Abbotsford’s roster maxed out with vets, it meant he had too much experience for the numbers to work.

“Yeah, it’s … unique,” said Wolanin of his offseason predicament, “Not many jobs can you kind of be at the top of it and then go backward in contractual terms, so as a 30-year-old to try to find a job and continue my career …”

Also in part because Wolanin required sports hernia surgery over the summer, he was left only with last month’s 25-game PTO offer in Providence. He plugged in and delivered solid numbers (1-6–7 in six games), which encouraged the Bruins last Sunday quickly to flip the PTO into an AHL deal. Had he remained solely on the tryout offer, there was a chance another AHL or NHL team could have filched Wolanin.

“All we ever want to do as players is to play, play winning hockey, and be part of a winning culture,” noted Wolanin. “I was super fortunate that Providence was in need, and so far so good. It’s been exactly what I’d hoped for, which is a great culture, great locker room — the winning is first and foremost — just a great experience so far. No matter how unlucky or kind of annoying the early stages were, sitting at home jobless, watching camp and the regular season get underway.”

Wolanin’s lengthy CV includes 11 NHL games for the Kings. Bruins coach Marco Sturm was behind the bench then as LA’s assistant coach in charge of the power play.

“Always liked him,” said Sturm, who also recalled coaching against Wolanin in his days as the Kings’ AHL coach. “He’s good. I think he’s a perfect fit for [Providence]. He’s very good on the power play, one of the better guys carrying the puck out.”

Sturm noted he offered his input on Wolanin to management prior to the Bruins bringing him aboard.

“I was just a call-up, trying to do my best,” said Wolanin, recalling his brief stay in LA. “They had Drew Doughty on PP1, so I was just obviously getting the back half of the power plays Marco was running. Then the last two-three years he was coaching the [Ontario] Reign.”

There are so many good players at both the AHL and NHL level, noted Wolanin, that sometimes it takes just “one believer” to provide a significant turn in a career path. For instance, Craig Geekie, Morgan Geekie’s dad, noted recently the profound influence Ron Francis had on Morgan’s career. Francis was the general manager in Carolina when the Hurricanes drafted Geekie, and then the Seattle GM when the Kraken took Geekie in the expansion draft.

“Again, I didn’t have any conversations with Marco,” said Wolanin, “but I’d like to think I competed pretty hard and well against him for the last couple of years — maybe that was noticed. Those connections can go a long way. Sometimes you’re just hopeful that someone’ll say, ‘You know, I’ve seen him play and I like his game.’ The opposite can happen, too, of course. At least there is a little bit of familiarity and, if I ever do run into him, it’ll be a nice handshake and a hug.”

That day could come. The Bruins have a history of their blue line getting chewed up by injury, and this year has been no different. Franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy, his 2024-25 season clipped short by injury in the 4 Nations Face-Off, only made it back to the lineup Thursday after another 11-game absence this season after taking a slap shot to the face at Montreal Nov. 15.

In the meantime, Wolanin remains committed to “wait properly”, to build his game, and make the most of what the Bruins have put in front of him.

“At 30 years old, I feel as good as I’ve ever felt,” he said, “and that’s physically, mentally, and emotionally. Now my job is either to make it work for me, and if there’s no opportunity for me, then to pay it forward for some of these young guys. I like to think I do a pretty good job of that.”

At 6 feet 7 inches, Dean Letourneau stands out in a big way for Boston College.Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

NEW HEIGHTS

Letourneau’s prospects improve in Year 2 at BC

Towering center Dean Letourneau finished this semester’s final exam Friday at Boston College and packed up to spend Christmas with his family outside of Ottawa. The Bruins prospect departed The Heights on a high note, having delivered a blistering 4-2–6 line across the Eagles’ last three games.

The offensive production for the 6-foot-7-inch Letourneau is a marked turnaround from his freshman year, during which he put up a meager 0-3–3 line. He’ll return to campus after the break with his 9-8–17 totals second on BC’s points list only to the 10-8–18 by fellow Bruins prospect James Hagens.

What’s clicked? Letourneau believes it was the work he put in over the summer, both on the ice and on dry land, that helped him produce the results.

“Coming off a big summer of training definitely helped me,” he said, “just being at home and then coming down to Boston. Training over the summer, not taking any time off, allows you to work on your craft a little bit, gets you in the flow. Once I got the first goal, it kind of helped the ball get rolling.”

The Bruins noted in June 2024, upon drafting Letourneau in the first round (No. 25), that the jump to NCAA Division 1 play could be challenging. He was transitioning from high school hockey (St. Andrew’s, just north of Toronto) to Hockey East, where opposing rosters were stocked with players often four and five years older.

Letourneau was offered a chance to play in the USHL, where players are typically 18 and 19 years old, and he gave it strong consideration. But when BC offered immediate entry in September 2024, he was on his way to the Heights.

“It was a learning year — and I kind of understood that,” said Letourneau, noting how he felt about his freshman season in retrospect. “Not everything’s about points and I wasn’t put into a role where I was expected to score a bunch of goals. My role was to kind of go out there and play a hard game, and that’s what I did, what our team needed for us to win games.

“I mean, I was definitely disappointed, because everyone wants to score, but I went into the summer, threw that out of my mind and came back with a different mind-set this season.”

Letourneau and the Eagles will return to campus Dec. 26 to prepare for a Dec. 28-29 tournament (Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off) in Milwaukee. They will be without their full cast due to some players — likely including Hagens — being in St. Paul for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship (Dec. 26-Jan. 5).

David Pastrnak (left) could be welcoming Morgan Geekie into the Bruins’ 60-goal club later this season.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

HOT STICK

Geekie has shot to reach 60-goal plateau

If Morgan Geekie’s stick remains hot, the hard-firing right winger could have a reasonable chance of joining Phil Esposito and David Pastrnak as the lone Bruins to reach the 60-goal plateau. Entering Sunday’s faceoff with the Wild, Geekie’s 22 goals had him on pace for 56. Only Colorado superstar Nathan MacKinnon had more goals (25) as of Friday.

Dialing back to the start of last season, Geekie, 27, has knocked home 55 goals, ranking him tied for ninth (with the Jets’ Mark Scheifele, Alex DeBrincat of the Red Wings, and the Stars’ Jason Robertson) among the game’s elite goal scorers across that stretch. Topping the list: Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers with 69, and the Sabres’ Tage Thompson with 59.

Capitals star Alex Ovechkin (No. 3, 58 goals) is one of the 23 NHLers, all forwards, to reach 60 in at least one season. Ovechkin, then only 22, potted his career-high 65 in 2007-08. Draisaitl, 30, hit his goal-scoring high-water mark (55) in 2021-22.

If history holds, odds don’t favor Draisaitl getting to 60 before he retires. Of the 23 players to score 60, only three — Esposito, Lanny McDonald, and Mario Lemieux —connected for No. 60 in the days after they turned 30. Esposito did it three times after age 30, and holds the honor as the 60-goal golden statesman, connecting for No. 60 at age 33 and 40 days on April 1, 1975, with the Bruins. Only seven months later, he was dealt to the Rangers.

Goal scoring is no country for old men.

Sturm a number times this season has marveled over Geekie’s high scoring percentage, something not always common for high-volume scorers. On the aforementioned list of the top goal scorers dating back to the start of last season, Geekie leads the field with a 23.8 shooting percentage (55 goals on 230 shots), followed by Scheifele (22.3) and Draisaitl (21.6).

FOREIGN EXCHANGE

Anas thrives as KHL points leader among Americans

Sam Anas, long ago Quinnipiac’s leading scorer, entered weekend play as the KHL’s top-producing American-born player with 17-18–35 totals in 32 games for Dinamo Minsk (Belarus).

Anas, a 5-foot-9-inch center from Potomac, Md., played three seasons at Quinnipiac, turning pro after his junior season (2015-16). After seven seasons in the AHL, and not a single NHL callup, he bolted for the KHL at age 30 and is in his third season pacing the Dinamo offense.

Dinamo’s coach is Dmitri Kvartalnov, among the first Russians the Bruins drafted (No. 16, 1992). He had a thrilling, albeit brief, run here on the Bonanza Line with Adam Oates and Li’l Joe Juneau in 1992-93. The trio piled up 316 points, nearly half of those belonging to Oates (45-97–142).

Kvartalnov lasted but another half-season under coach Brian Sutter and abruptly quit North America for good. In 1994-95, he began a 14-year European tour. Now 59 and a seasoned KHL coach, Kvartalnov was retired for three years before taking the Dinamo role this season.

After Anas, the next most productive Yank in the KHL has been former UNH forward Andrew Poturalski, who this year joined Omsk Avangard (Russia) after 10 years in the AHL (and nine games in the NHL). Poturalski, from Williamsville, N.Y., had 31 points through 32 games. He played on two Calder Cup winners, 2018-19 with Charlotte and 2021-22 with Chicago.

The Capitals’ Jakob Chychrun goal total of 11 led all NHL defenseman entering the weekend.Nick Wass/Associated Press

Paul Coffey remains the game’s top goal-scoring defenseman for a single season. At 24, Coffey set the league standard with 48 goals for the 1985-86 Oilers. In the 40 years since, no one has come close to challenging Coffey’s mark. Kevin Hatcher led all NHL blue liners with 34 goals for the Capitals in 1992-93. Ditto for Mike Green (Washington) with 31 in 2008-09. And last season, Avalanche sensation Cale Makar (ex-UMass) potted 30. As the weekend approached, Washington’s Jakob Chychrun led all defensemen this season with 11 goals, a pace that would produce 30 … The Mammoth, who’ll be at the Garden Tuesday evening, will be without Logan Cooley, their slick third-year center. Cooley, 21, hit the deck hard on a rush to the net Dec. 5 in Vancouver, his left leg bending awkwardly around the base of the right post. Utah expects him to be out for eight weeks. Upon exiting with his line of 14-9–23, he led the Mammoth in goal scoring and was one of six roster players already with 20 points. Less than eight weeks ago, Cooley signed an 8-year, $80 million contract that kicks in next season. All dollars guaranteed … The NHL board of governors met Tuesday in Colorado Springs, where the Lords of the Boards learned the Olympic sheet in Milan, Italy, won’t be ready for a first test skate until Feb. 2. That’s some 72 hours before the first scheduled game action. No doubt they’ll have a sheet in place, but at this point it’s a virtual guarantee that ice quality, and its impact on play, will be a running narrative from start to finish … On Thursday, Bruins fans will get their first Garden view of old pal Trent Frederic in his Oilers colors. It has been a tough go (2-1–3 in 31 games) thus far for the gregarious “Freddy.” The Oilers let Connor Brown walk in free agency to New Jersey, who signed the reliable winger for four years/$12 million, and instead tied up Frederic to a bloated UFA deal at eight years/$30.8 million. Brown hasn’t missed a beat as a reliable bottom sixer with the Devils (6-6–12 in 24 games). Frederic has looked lost from the drop of the puck.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at kevin.dupont@globe.com.