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The Bruins and Ryan Spooner successfully avoided arbitration on Wednesday, agreeing to a one-year, $2.825 million contract that’ll keep the 25-year-old forward in Boston for at least another season.
"We are pleased with the process and are happy to have Ryan's contract resolved,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said in a statement provided by the Bruins. “His agent, Murray Kuntz, and Ryan were both very professional, and our group was well prepared as they had worked very diligently prior to arriving at a settlement point,” said Sweeney. “We know Ryan has the offensive skills to be an impactful player, especially while on the power play. We expect Ryan to continue to take the necessary steps with his development to be an even more complete, two-way player."
In what was his second full NHL season, Spooner recorded 11 goals and 39 points in 78 games for the Bruins last season, and added two assists in four playoff games before sitting as a somewhat healthy scratch for the final two, must-win games of the club’s first-round series loss to the Senators.
The contract is actually likely saving the Black and Gold some money, too, as Spooner easily could’ve been worth over $3 million per season had this case actually gone through and to arbitration (which is something the Bruins have not done since Blake Wheeler took them to arbitration in 2010).
Ranking 16th in power-play opportunities last season, and 28th the year before that, the Bruins rank fourth in the NHL over the last two years in total power-play percentage, with the B’s top-heavy group clicking at 21.1 percent since Spooner broke into the league and along the half wall of the club’s top unit back in 2015. Over that span, beginning on Feb. 22, 2015, the Bruins have goals on 107 of their 508 opportunities in total, and with Spooner recording 40 power-play points over that span. Otherwise known as direct No. 51 involvement in 37.3 percent of the team’s power-play goals.
And although the club boasts a star-studded top unit, the left-shot Spooner has proven himself to be a key part of that unit and not a simple beneficiary of playing with great players as many will try to tell you, with 26 power-play assists at 5-on-4 play over that span, which ranks as the third-most among Bruins skaters. Of Spooner’s 26 helpers, 17 have been primary assists, tying him with Patrice Bergeron for the second-most on the B’s roster. (Bergeron has 136 more minutes in this situation over the last three years.) Spooner's aforementioned 40 power-play points overall are also tied with top-liners such as the Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau and Kings captain Anze Kopitar over that span.
Gaudreau makes $6.75 million per season while Kopitar is a $10 million per year guy. Take the five players directly above them in this category and the five players below them for that matter and you have an average annual salary of $5.74 million per year. Spooner makes half of that.
His value does not end there, either.
Over the last three seasons, Spooner has averaged 1.73 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five play, which ranks as the 101st-most among NHL forwards with at least 1,500 minutes player over the last three seasons. That’s more than star players such as Gabriel Landeskog, Jakub Voracek, Bobby Ryan, David Backes, and even Henrik Sedin. And applying the same math we did to those power-play point leaders -- averaging out the salaries of the five skaters directly above and below Spooner -- and the average salary of Spooner’s range in that regard sits at $3.67 million per season.
And using that same statistical filter (forwards with at least 1,500 minutes over the last three years) but under an all-situation basis, Spooner is one of 28 NHL forwards to average at least one primary assist per 60 minutes of play. He’s tied with Taylor Hall in that stat, .01 behind John Tavares, and just .02 behind the likes of Ryan Johansen. Those players have an average salary of over $5 million per season, with massive paydays coming for Johansen this summer (he’s expected to request anywhere from $7.5-8 million per season on a long-term deal) and a mega deal coming Tavares' way in 2018.
Of course, it’s unfair to realistically suggest that Spooner is on the same level as those players.
He's not even close when you look at the total package and those players' pedigrees. But it’s equally insulting to suggest that he’s somehow been this blackhole that’s prevented the club from achieving their goals or providing offense. The raw numbers alone tell you that Spooner has been worth it, and that he’ll more than likely be worth it for the B’s, even with a seemingly substantial raise next season.
But Spooner needs to be better, and he knows that.
And he is going to have his share of battles for that third line center spot. The Bruins like Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, while Backes, Riley Nash, Sean Kuraly and Austin Czarnik could be considered for that role as well should they develop chemistry with their linemates and outplay Spooner come training camp. It will also be interesting to see how he approaches that challenge next season, too, as he seemingly lost that battle for the third line job last season without ever fighting for it in camp (Czarnik was the third-line pivot throughout camp), and how No. 51’s best days with the Bruins came when he was perceived to be on his ‘last chance’ with the organization late in the 2014-15 season.
Spooner has 32 goals and 117 points in 214 total NHL games with the Bruins.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
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