The Boston Bruins made a splash on the first day of NHL free agency.
They acquired two top-nine forwards by trading for Florida Panthers right winger Jimmy Hayes and signing free-agent left winger Matt Beleskey to a five-year, $19 million contract on Wednesday.
The additions of Beleskey and Hayes provide more size and offensive skill to a Bruins team that struggled offensively last season and ranked 22nd in goals scored and 18th in power-play percentage.
Beleskey scored a career-high 22 goals in 65 games for the Anaheim Ducks last season. There are questions about whether he can match that total without playing with linemates of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry’s caliber, but the 27-year-old would be a good fit alongside a patient playmaker such as B’s center David Krejci.
“It’s given me a lot of confidence,” Beleskey said of his success last season. “Being put in situations to score and being put with great players, I feel that coming to Boston, there’s a lot of great young players, guys who have been around and guys who have won Stanley Cups. I think the experience is there and I think the style of play that I play is going to be useful in Boston. I think after being able to score some goals and get that confidence, I’m looking forward to next year. I’m looking forward to doing the same thing.”
Krejci’s most productive seasons have come when he’s had goal-scoring power forwards on his wings, most notably Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton and Jarome Iginla. Beleskey isn’t as skilled as those three players, but he plays a hard, heavy game, and he will consistently attack the opposing defensemen on the forecheck and battle for pucks in the dirty areas.
Sure, Beleskey could see a small dip in his scoring production because his shooting percentage isn’t likely to remain at 15.2 percent. His career average before the 2014-15 campaign was 8.1 percent. That said, it’s certainly possible that he could replace a good portion of the scoring that Lucic provided over the last two seasons. In fairness to Lucic, the 2014-15 season was not his best, but his scoring has decreased in each of the last four non-lockout seasons.
Here’s how Beleskey and Lucic compare at 5-on-5 since the start of the 2013-14 campaign. Their scoring rates and possession numbers are pretty similar.
Beleskey is most likely to play left wing on the second or third line. In addition to Krejci, Beleskey would also be a solid fit with Ryan Spooner, who excelled over the final 24 games of last season with Lucic on his left wing. The addition of Beleskey also allows Chris Kelly to play left wing or his natural center position on the fourth line. That would really strengthen the bottom-six, a group that didn’t provide enough scoring depth last season.
As for Hayes, he’s an exciting pickup for Boston. He has tremendous size at 6-foot-6 and 221 pounds, but he also possesses the speed and skating ability to play an uptempo game and put opposing defensemen on their heels entering the offensive zone.
“We kind of say it (in Florida): You can’t really teach size, so being big, I have to take advantage of being as big as I am, and I’ve got to use my reach and use my skill set as well as I can and continue to develop my skill around the net to score a lot of goals,” Hayes said. “I don’t score many goals from outside; I score my goals in tight, so I’m going to have to continue to work on that with my game.”
Hayes set career highs in goals (19), assists (16), points (35) and games played (72) last season.
Here’s a very early projection of the Bruins’ lines, assuming Hayes and Brett Connolly are signed at some point (they’re restricted free agents). It’s a pretty good group, but there’s still a lot of work for head coach Claude Julien as far as finding the best combinations. Aside from Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, not many of these guys have experienced playing alongside each other.
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Matt Beleskey–David Krejci–Jimmy Hayes
Loui Eriksson–Ryan Spooner–Brett Connolly
Chris Kelly/Zac Rinaldo–Joonas Kemppainen/Chris Kelly–Max Talbot
Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images
