This is not the second NHL season anyone expected for David Pastrnak. Last season, the 18-year-old’s dominance in the AHL (11-17—28 in 25 games) and his 27 points in 46 NHL games hinted at better things in 2015-16.

But the 2015 component of his season was a dud. The Bruins are trying to make sure the 2016 segment goes better.

To that end, they assigned Pastrnak to Providence on Monday, upon his return from playing in the World Junior Championships with the Czech Republic. He skated there Tuesday. The Bruins have not determined his next step. Whatever it is, Pastrnak’s long-term outlook will be the organization’s guiding principle.

“In all honesty, it would have been unfair, ­after missing seven weeks of hockey with the set of expectations upon him as a 19-year-old kid, to come in and jump back into our lineup,’’ general manager Don Sweeney said. “The intention was to get him back.

“He played a couple games before he went over to knock off some rust, then go play in a really high-level tournament, which he utilized last year to jump-start his second part of the year.

“He did impact our lineup. That’s what our hopes are — that he’ll come back and feel more comfortable having handled the puck in an environment over there, even more so than he would have at the AHL level.’’

Pastrnak had bad luck when he took friendly fire off the left foot in a game against the Coyotes Oct. 27. Four days later against Florida, he played his 10th NHL game of the season. There has yet to be an 11th.

While the fractured foot kept Pastrnak off the NHL roster for more than two months, his play before the injury did not impress his employers. In 10 games, he had two goals and two assists while averaging 13:44 of ice time.

He got trapped in his own zone. He didn’t make enough hard plays. His play without the puck kept him from maximizing his skill set in the offensive zone.

With that in mind, the Bruins are taking a cautious approach to the acclimation process. Pastrnak played in two games for Providence (0-1—1) on a conditioning stint before the World Juniors.

In Finland, Pastrnak had a goal and three assists in four games. The Czech Republic lost to the United States in the quarterfinals. The Bruins’ expectation was for Pastrnak to be among the tournament’s best players, given his pedigree and experience. They wanted Pastrnak to return feeling confident about his game.

“It was good,’’ Sweeney said of Pastrnak’s play. “I think his team was disappointed in the final result of not being able to get by. I think he went over to play a lot of hockey and was able to do that and get his confidence back.

“He got a goal and three assists in the games he played. They would have liked to have scored a few more goals. He played in situations I think will help him and allow his confidence to get back to where it was even prior to his own injury here.’’

Sweeney planned to evaluate Pastrnak’s immediate future after Tuesday’s game against the Capitals. The Bruins activated Joonas Kemppainen off injured reserve, which gave them 13 forwards, including the suspended Brad Marchand. Once they activated Kemppainen, the Bruins were at the 23-player maximum.

“A lot of [the evaluation is] performance-based and where our own roster here is. Brad comes back for the Ottawa game [Saturday]. We’re just looking to see where our club is first and foremost, and David will factor into that going forward.’’

Help at center

With Kemppainen back, coach Claude Julien welcomed a valuable left-shot center for faceoffs and shorthanded ice time. As limited as Kemppainen might be offensively (1-2—3 in 24 games), the Bruins missed his presence for 11 games.

“It hurts,’’ Julien said of being down Kemppainen, David Krejci, and Chris Kelly. “It’s been obvious in faceoffs and how we’ve lost faceoffs in our own end, especially, and losing them clean. Then other teams get possession of the puck a lot more than we’re used to. When you don’t win, you’ve got to chase that puck. When you win, you start with it.’’

Kemppainen centered Frank Vatrano and Jimmy Hayes on the third line. He had one shot and won 4 of 12 draws in 14:25 of ice time. Kemppainen played 1:09 on the penalty kill.

Iginla in 600 club

Ex-Bruin Jarome Iginla scored his 600th career goal Monday against Los Angeles and former linemate Milan Lucic. Iginla, now with Colorado, is the 16th player to score 600. “Even if he was only here for a year, he’s a great person,’’ said Julien. “He’s been a great player in this league. He deserves that recognition. He deserves to be able to reach those kinds of things. He’s a team guy. He’s a warrior. There’s a lot of good things to say about Jarome.’’ . . . After scoring a hat trick against Pittsburgh Dec. 18, Vatrano has gone without a point in seven straight games. He had one shot in 12:40 of ice time on Tuesday. Because Vatrano can go down without waivers, he’s at risk of returning to Providence once Pastrnak is ready for a promotion. Overall, the Bruins are satisfied with Vatrano’s rookie season. “The fact that he had a good start to the season in Providence and the fact we ran into injuries kind of forced us to bring him up,’’ said Julien. “He’s done a decent job. You’re going to see those young players every once in a while hit a dip just like anybody else, especially in their first year. He’s given us some big goals. He’s given us some big games. The biggest thing is I find he’s probably ahead of schedule from what we all predicted.’’ . . . Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman were the healthy scratches.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.