We are 205 days out from the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships coming to Boston. In the lead up, I’ll point out some figure skaters to keep an eye on leading up to the event.

The Boston Bruins will take a brief hiatus from the TD Garden this March when the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships come to town, but a hockey player may still take the ice.

One of the most promising men’s skaters the United States has produced in some time, hockey forward and figure skater Nathan Chen delivered a phenomenal short program Thursday at the Junior Grand Prix stop in Colorado Springs. His 77.13 score put him in first after the first leg of competition, a total that U.S. Figure Skating reported as being the highest ever at a Junior Grand Prix event.

If you haven’t been watching figure skating in a few years (and I know there are quite a few of you out there), U.S. men have been struggling. Quad jumps, once revolutionary, are now commonplace, but the U.S. doesn’t boast much power in that department. The reigning national champion, Jason Brown, is known more for the overall composition of his programs and precise skating skills (which deserve kudos, don’t get me wrong), than his jumping ability. A quad jump isn’t currently in Brown’s repertoire.

Nathan Chen, on the other hand, can jump. When he lifts up for his opening triple Axel, it is as secure as the dominant U.S. men in days of old. He has enough confidence and strength to place the rest of his short program jump requirements in the second half of his program, which gives him a score boost. (While watching Chen’s program on YouTube, I may have physically slapped my desk in excitement when he landed the triple Lutz-triple toe loop in the second half of his program.)

While Chen doesn’t have the program composition of reigning national champion Brown, he still can sell a program, as he does with his Michael Jackson short program medley. He can hold his own artistry-wise among the top U.S. men at the moment, an important point in a quadrennium where U.S. judging panels have shown they might hold it in higher importance than those internationally.

Chen’s first senior performances for those particular judges were less than ideal. After winning the novice and junior men’s titles twice each, his first year on the senior men’s level at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships was marred by a heel injury. He finished eighth. Given reports of his blistering performances at summer competitions and as shown in Thursday’s short program, Chen probably won’t see himself in eighth place nationally again.

Given his age, Chen could compete on the junior or senior level internationally. To the dismay and confusion of some skating fans, he was placed on the junior circuit this fall, but has the goods to compete — and do well — on the Senior Grand Prix. If he shows up in Minneapolis in January for the U.S. Championships and places in the top three there, he could represent the United States at the TD Garden, the venue where he won his second junior national title in 2014.

His last junior title was won while he was spending his evenings playing hockey for a Midget A team in California. A forward, Chen detailed his dual career for Icenetwork’s Amy Rosewater last winter, and how his family talked him out of tending the net:

“At first, I wanted to be a goalie,” said Chen, who got interested in hockey because his two older brothers played. “I thought being a goalie would be the most fun. I really liked the goalie gear. I thought it was cool. But my family said being a goalie would be boring, just standing there in front of the net, not skating. So I decided to play up [at forward] instead.”

So while the Bruins may be on the road for an extended road trip next March, it’s quite possible that a forward might still take the ice.

Bostonians have a chance to see Chen for themselves at Harvard’s Evening With Champions, September 18th and 19th.