Toronto Maple Leafs: Did The Boston Bruins Get Better?

In the aftermath of the John Tavares signing, fan and media focus has been rightly directed toward the Toronto Maple Leafs and their various ancillary moves.

With the Leafs positioned as the quasi-favourites to win their division and boasting arguably the NHL’s best centre depth, that’s all fine and good. Yet, lost in the summer hoopla is what those around them have been up to.

Did any of the Atlantic Division’s teams get better? That question is one I’ll be diving into over the next few days.

First up is the Boston Bruins.

Additions: Jaroslav Halak, Joakim Nordstrom, John Moore, Chris Wagner

Departures: Anton Khudobin, Brian Gionta, Nick Holden, Paul Postma, Rick Nash, Riley Nash, Tim Schaller, Tommy Wingels

Summer Recap

The Bruins didn’t really do all that much to improve their roster this summer. Which, if you’re a Leafs fan, should be viewed as a blessing.

Losing Riley Nash is a blow to the centre depth, especially when considering how little the Blue Jackets eventually paid for his services. On the other hand, moving on from veterans in Gionta, the other Nash, and Khudobin is addition by subtraction.

How do their replacements fare?

Well, there are worse options at backup than Jaroslav Halak. Despite lacking the prestige of his prior days in Montreal, Halak’s recent performance has been less egregious than the optics portray.

Last season aside, Halas has posted save percentages of .915, .919, .914, and .917 from 2013-14 to 2016-17, respectively. That’s perfectly acceptable for a middle-of-the-pack netminder, with Halak either scraping or slightly exceeding league average.

Yet, it’s his performance from last season which has sullied his current perception.

In 54 games, Halak’s highest since 2014-15, his save percentage plummeted to .908. Paired with Tomas Greiss, the duo made up the NHL’s worst goaltending tandem, providing their team with no semblance of net stability which effectively kept the Islanders out of the playoffs.

So, maybe giving a 33-year-old injury prone netminder coming off a horrific season two years at $2.75 million per isn’t the smartest decision. The salary won’t kill them, but the multi-year term doesn’t compute either.

Speaking of deals that don’t compute, John Moore is up next.

At 27-years-old, Moore enters Boston holding a career high in points of 22 and just one season of logging over 20 minutes per night in ice time. It was last season. He averaged 20:01.

In terms of possession, Moore doesn’t offer much value either. 2014-15 was the last time his 5v5 CF/60 skewed positive, albeit coming in a 38-game sample size. With a corsi rel of 0.4%, 2017-18 was Moore’s first showing above 50% in that metric since, you guessed it, 2014-15.

Let’s recap, shall we?.

At 27, Moore has likely already hit his ceiling, with a track record painting him as a below-average possession player with negative value in relation to his teammates. He offers little in the realm of offensive contribution and only started being trusted with significant minutes just last season. Moore also shoots left handed, a positional surplus around the league.

Naturally, the Bruins locked him in for 5 years.

At a cap hit of $2.75 million, the financials aren’t awful. I’m just curious as to what exactly Boston saw in Moore to warrant giving him a half-decade commitment. Nothing in his career has shown him to be anything more than slightly below average at his position and he sits at the peak of his development curve.

What Moore’s deal serves as is a distinct example of a team sacrificing AAV for term.

Generally, contracts of this nature are suited for tweeners with more runway, Andreas Johnsson being a prime example. Holding only 9 games of big league experience under his belt, Johnsson was unable to command much in salary on his next deal. At the same time, the Leafs have a good idea of what he can become. Therefore, they wanted (before he ended up accepting his qualifying offer) to lock him in long-term at a cap hit practically guaranteed to achieve steal status upon Johnsson reaching his potential.

Moore, on the other hand, is done developing. What you see is what you get, and what we’ve seen is a fine third pairing LHD. How that managed to earn him a 5-year term baffles me.

The final two acquisitions, Joakim Nordstrom and Chris Wagner, are forward depth options.

In Wagner’s case, his possession metrics are downright putrid, 2017-18 being the bottoming out point. During his 15-game stint with the Islanders, Wagner posted a CF/60 of 38.8%and an even worse -11.6% (!!) corsi rel. His 45.4% and -3.5% in 64 games with Anaheim prior to his move is a tad better, but not by much.

Wagner’s 17 points in 79 games are career highs.

Yet, the Bruins somehow gave him a two-year deal with a cap hit of $1.25 million. Again, I’m curious to find out what in Wagner’s past earned him a multi-year term.

Nordstrom is in the same boat, albeit to a lesser degree. Producing only 7 points in 75 games for Carolina last season, his presentable 51.4% CF/60 is dampened by an accompanying -4.1% corsi rel. Clearly, it wasn’t Nordstrom who carried his line.

Boston gave him two years as well, counting $1 million against the cap.

Overview

Coming off a surprisingly successful season, the Bruins proceeded to spend their summer locking up below average depth options to multi-year contracts.

That’s simply not how you win in today’s NHL. In fact, as we enter August, the current UFA crop boasts better options than any of the Bruins’ offseason additions and could all be had for less than their black and gold counterparts.

Boston will remain, despite all this, a top-3 Atlantic Division threat heading into next season. Any team capable of icing a first line of David Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand is practically guaranteed a postseason birth from the onset.

None of their deals are immediate cap headaches, meaning it certainly could’ve been worse.

Still, the Bruins didn’t actually get better. Being in a division with monsters like the Leafs and Lightning, that’s simply not good enough. Thanks to relative inaction, Boston’s chances of surpassing their success from the season prior are decidedly slim.

Thanks for reading!

Contract figures courtesy of capfriendly.com

Stats courtesy of hockeyreference.com