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Bruins re-sign Noel Acciari to two-year deal

June 28, 2017, 6:53 PM ET [23 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The thunderous echo that comes with each hit from Noel Acciari along the TD Garden boards has earned an extended stay in Boston, as the Bruins have officially re-signed Acciari to a two-year, one-way contract worth $1,450,000 ($725,000 cap hit).

“I’m very excited,” Acciari, an undrafted talent out of Providence College, said on Wednesday. “I just wanted to thank Donny [Don Sweeney] and Cam [Neely] and the Jacobs family for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it for another two years and I’m excited about where this team is headed. So, I’m glad I can be a part of it.”

Bounced between the P-Bruins and Big B’s this season, the 25-year-old Acciari skated in 29 games with the Bruins last season, with two goals and five points. A fit with Friars teammate Tim Schaller, and often connected with Riley Nash and/or Dominic Moore as well, Acciari’s game really took off towards the end of the season, with both of his goals and an assist scored in the final 10 games of the regular season. He would then cap his season with one goal, 22 hits, and six blocked shots in four playoff games.

“I just want to make sure that I can start how I ended last year with the confidence that I had and just make sure that I’m ready for any situation, whether it be penalty kill or kind of just be ready for anything,” Acciari said. “I want to work on my skating – continue to work on that. Just make sure that I still have a step on people and just be ready to take some faceoffs whenever I need to jump in there and just work on shooting more and just kind of making my shots purposeful and just critique my game a bit.”

And while Acciari can continue to work on his offensive game, it was in the physicality department that Acciari made his biggest impact (and will continue to), with 80 hits over that 29-game run. Only David Backes (3.1) averaged more credited hits per game than the 2.8 next to Acciari’s name as the club’s go-to fourth-line banger.

“I think my game fits in well with the old Bruins style and I grew up watching games when they won the Stanley Cup,” Acciari noted. “I think I was a senior in high school and just watching how the grit just got them there and how they kept playing like there’s no tomorrow and I think that’s the way I have to play everyday.

“Play every game as if it was my last and just kind of focus on that.”

Acciari has spent his entire pro career with the B’s, with two goals and six points in 48 NHL contests, and 13 goals and 33 points in 75 AHL contests in between NHL stints.

Acciari is also the first of the club’s seven restricted free agents to sign a deal. On the NHL roster, Schaller, Ryan Spooner, and David Pastrnak remain unsigned, while tweeners Austin Czarnik, Malcolm Subban, and Zane McIntyre also need new deals.
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