That isn't flab from the rich European cuisine of Prague or pubs of Belfast, though. This addition is all muscle.
Upon their return, the first order of business for the Bruins was to finalize a new one-year deal with forward Brian McGrattan.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound tough guy had been in camp with the Bruins on a tryout invitation, and he accompanied the team to Europe. He didn't play in either exhibition game on the trip or the two games against Phoenix in Prague as the Bruins waited until returning to North America to finalize his deal.
The club did not release terms of the contract, but it is believed to be a two-way deal. That would pay McGrattan separate salaries based on whether he is up with the big club in Boston or down with the AHL affiliate in Providence.
McGrattan, 29, is expected to earn close to the minimum of $500,000 in the NHL and have an AHL deal worth under $105,000. That's the limit to avoid being subject to recall waivers if the Bruins were to bring him back up after sending him to Providence. When a player is claimed by another team on recallable waivers, the club that loses him has to pay half of his NHL salary, which also counts against the cap.
McGrattan will have to clear regular waivers to be sent to Providence though, and he will remain with the big club for now.
McGrattan gives the Bruins a heavyweight presence that could come in handy against a number of clubs in the Eastern Conference. The New York Rangers signed Derek Boogaard (6-foot-8, 257 pounds) on July 1, and Philadelphia countered by signing Jody Shelley (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) and Washington acquired D.J. King (6-foot-3, 230 pounds) in a trade with St. Louis. Those behemoths join an Eastern Conference that already featured dangerous heavyweights like Toronto’s Colton Orr (6-foot-3, 222 pounds), Ottawa’s Matt Carkner (6-foot-4, 231 pounds) and Pittsburgh’s Eric Godard (6-foot-4, 214 pounds).
The Bruins have employed Shawn Thornton as their primary pugilist for the past three seasons, and they re-signed him to a two-year deal this summer. with a Stanley Cup ring on his resume, Thornton has done everything asked of him and is a popular player and key veteran leader on the club. He's also capable of playing a regular shift. But while he's a willing and strong technical fighter, it could be asking too much for Thornton to take on so many much bigger tough guys on a regular basis.
Recognizing the changing landscape in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins brought McGrattan into camp for a look. He needed to prove he could also skate without being a liability, and he did that throughout the preseason. He didn't drop the gloves in any exhibition games, but the Bruins know enough about that element to his game. It was his ability to keep up with the play and avoid undisciplined penalties that confirmed the club's interest in signing him.
"I've showed people what I can do [as a fighter] for five years," said McGrattan before leaving for Europe. "I've lost maybe three or four fights in five years, so I think they know I can do that. It's the other things they're looking for, to see if they can trust me to put me out there for 5-7 minutes on a fourth-line shift. Hopefully I was able to show the team that I can do that. Fortunately, they've seen some things that I can do, and maybe that's the reason I'm still around."
McGrattan has played 182 games in the NHL over the last five years with Ottawa, Phoenix and Calgary. He came up originally with the Senators when Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli was Ottawa's assistant GM and Bruins captain Zdeno Chara was McGrattan's roommate during his rookie season in 2005-06.
That came one year after McGrattan set an AHL record with 551 penalty minutes for Binghamton in 2004-05. He likely won't be dressed for enough games to put up numbers like that in Boston, but McGrattan will still be a valuable addition in a limited role, matching up with the super heavyweights of the East and making sure the Bruins' skilled players feel a little safer on the ice when he's around.
