The Boston Bruins have addressed one of their biggest needs to enter the NHL free agency by signing veteran winger Craig Smith on a three-year contract worth 1 1.31 million per season.
Secondary scoring was a major problem for the Bruins last season, especially in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Now, to be clear, Smith alone will not fix this vulnerability. The Bruins must add another quality forward – maybe a free agent like Taylor Hall, Mike Hoffman or Tyler Tofoli? – To go with a strong enough group next season, but throwing Smith into the mix is a tremendous start.
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Let’s start with Smith’s 5-on-5 build.
The Bruins reached 5-on-5 with minus-12 goal difference (17 goals, 29 allowed) during the play-s fee. Smith should make Boston more productive in the sense that someone who can tuck a tuck – an average of 205 shots on the net in the last seven years – and win a prize fight on the ice with his physical sport.
Smith helped Predators run at a very high rate last season. They were plus-159 in shot attempts, plus-112 in shots on the net, plus-59 in scoring chances and plus-24 goals 5-on-5 while Smith was on ice.
Outside of David Pasternak and Brad March on the top line, there was no reliable scorer on the wings in Boston a season ago. Jack Debrask is able to stimulate Boston into an aggressive build-up, but it is very inconsistent. Perhaps the nd ndrej case is more productive with the bean in its first full season, but it remains to be seen. Jack Studnica may provide an offensive spark, but it will be colored in 2020-21.
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Smith has scored more than 20 goals in five of the last seven seasons, and if the regular season had not been cut short, possibly due to the Covid-19 epidemic, he could have reached the target in 2019-20. He finished with 31 points (18 goals, 13 assists) in 69 games.
His hat-trick against the New York Islands in February was a concrete example of his two-way skill set. The first goal was impressive – he stole the puck from Islanders defender Nick Lady and scored from a ridiculous angle.
P David Winger could play on second line with center David Crazy, but would be the ideal fit on the third line next to Charlie Cuckoo. Coyle made an impressive run out of 2020, but did not have enough skills on his line. Smith is an upgrade over third-line wing options such as third-order Bjork, Carson Kuhlman, Nick Richie or Chris Wagner.
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This is another positive contract value for the Smith signature. The Bruins did not need much time (just three years) or a salary ($ 3.1 million salary cap hit) to acquire it.
Signing a consistent 20-goal scorer that is durable (has not played more than six games in a season since 2012), plays physical style, has 52 games of playoff experience and rates very high at just 3.1 million in many advanced statistics Season is a brainstorming move .
The Bruins have a lot more work to do in free agency with about 11 million cap space. And they still have to figure out what to do with some of their own free agents, including defense soldiers Zdeno Chara and Matt Grzelasic, as well as front-runner Jack Dibrusk.
But it’s hard not to be encouraged by Boston’s start after signing Smith.
