It’s that time of year again. Once their college hockey seasons come to a close, a whole slew of prospects sign entry-level deals with NHL clubs that either drafted them or were eyeing them for quite some time. Recently, the Bruins have been sticking with the trend, inking Ryan Donato and Wiley Sherman from Harvard and Cam Hughes and Trent Frederic from Wisconsin.

While Donato made the leap directly to Boston (and with overwhelming success at that) Sherman, Hughes, and Frederic have begun their professional journeys in Providence. The latter three have seen inconsistent playing time thus far, but each of them has shown promise in the early stages of their careers.

Yet of the trio, it is Frederic — the 6-foot-3, 216-pound center out of St. Louis — who has been the most impressive, with a goal, an assist and a plus-two rating marking a solid start to his professional tenure.

“I’ve been playing with a couple good guys,” Frederic said after Providence’s 6-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this past Saturday. “Really, everyone is good, and it certainly helps being a part of a good team.”

Boston selected the 20-year-old as one of their two first round draft picks in 2016 (the first being Charlie McAvoy) and 29th overall.

Frederic previously spent two seasons with the Badgers — preceded by a two-year stint in the U.S. National Development Program — and earned second-team all-Big 10 honors, as well as all-Big 10 Freshman and Big 10 Freshman of the Year accolades, during his first year. His sophomore campaign was just as impressive as he notched a team-high 32 points (17 goals, 15 assists) in 36 games before making the trek from one state capital (Madison) to another (Providence).

Frederic has also represented the U.S. in international play, including an appearance in both U-17 and U-18 tournaments and the 2017 World Junior Championship; he helped his teams collect three medals — two bronze and one silver.

Upon signing his entry-level contract, Frederic was outrighted to Providence to begin his development on an amateur tryout agreement. The 20-year-old didn’t take long to catch on, picking up an assist just 40 seconds into his first game with the P-Bruins — a 4-1 win over the Bridgeport Soundtigers on March 18. The former Badger added his first professional goal five days later during Providence’s 5-4 overtime victory over Lehigh Valley.

However, because he is only in his third game of his career, Frederic must learn the game more thoroughly in order to identify and correct his weaknesses.

“It’s for sure an adjustment,” he admitted. “The jump is different. Everyone is bigger and faster. I think I need to work on my faceoffs and harder plays. There’s not much out there [on the ice], and the finesse plays don’t always work.”

There were a handful of plays that illustrated Frederic’s need for improvement during Sunday’s game. In one instance, he dallied with the puck in front of his own net and nearly had it stolen. Later on, he allowed a simple pass to skip over his stick and then got pickpocketed in the neutral zone.

One upside is that Frederic will not let those negative plays affect him. The rookie bounced back from Sunday’s mistakes to create a few scoring chances — most notably on a possession where he led an odd-man rush and later regained puck control after having it taken off his stick.

The P-Bruins seem to have high expectations for their new young center. Head coach Jay Leach inserted the power forward into the top line alongside Austin Czarnik and Ryan Fitzgerald this past weekend. If Frederic is to grow into a solid professional, skating with and learning from Providence’s top veterans will certainly do no harm.

The way it looks, the big man has the perfect group surrounding him. He asserts it’s definitely helping him get off to the right start.

“All the guys have been great,” Fredric said. “All the guys have been nice to me so far. I’ve been talking to Henny [Josh Hennessy] because he’s a center too. He sits right next to me and he’s a great guy. So I’ve been talking to him a lot, but going right down the line everyone has been good.”