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It’s finally here.
The 2016 Hobey Baker Award winner and four-year standout with the Harvard Crimson,
Jimmy Vesey, drafted (and unsuccessfully signed) by the Nashville Predators and later traded to the Buffalo Sabres in late June, is free to talk with any team in the National Hockey League. By now, it’s easy to picture Vesey as Roger Daltrey as Tommy running across the city belting out “I’m Free!”
The Boston Bruins, as far as we know, are still in it. Well, maybe they are. Maybe they’re not. Everything from within the Vesey camp has been upfront about talking to the Black and Gold -- Vesey’s agent Peter Fish noted that they’re expecting a call from Bruins general manager
Don Sweeney when the ‘sweepstakes’ finally, officially open -- but the insiders from the outside have offered varying takes on where exactly the B’s stand in the hunt for the 6-foot-1 winger.
Some have told you that the Bruins are not exactly an automatic as the favorite, while others have indicated that Boston remains in the thick of things in terms of Vesey’s preferred destination.
Even so, there’s no shortage of interest in Vesey from around the league. In addition to the Bruins, the Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, and Toronto Maple Leafs are the names you’ve frequently heard in the Vesey sweeps. Some have also mentioned that there are some darkhorses in the group -- from the San Jose Sharks to the Tampa Bay Lightning to even the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins -- that could enter the mix as well.
In essence, any team would be more than willing to add Vesey to their mix.
But Vesey’s camp doesn’t seem intent on a full tour of the 30 NHL teams. Vesey’s camp has waited for months, and believe they’ve earned the right to ignore calls from perceived bad fits, if need be.
So, the obvious next question then becomes is there a good fit in Boston between Vesey and the Bruins? From the B’s perspective, it’s an easy yes. A thousand times and then a thousand more.
The Bruins, even after scoring the fifth-most goals per game (2.88) a year ago, are a group short on skilled, high-end wingers. The loss of
Loui Eriksson, even with the addition of
David Backes to the mix, doesn’t help that issue. Hell, Vesey, even after a collegiate career that featured an impressive 80 goals and 144 points in just 128 games with the Crimson played in Boston’s backyard, does not seem like the savior. But it’s 100% worth a shot if you’re the Bruins.
The financials work for the Black and Gold, too. While no team can pay Vesey more than the $925,000 base salary on this entry-level deal, potential bonus penalty carryovers (Vesey could make an extra $2.85 million via bonuses in each year of the contract), the Bruins are a team that could easily handle those bonus into next year and the year after that given the club’s (finally) positive financial outlook.
As far as the competition working against the Bruins, the Sabres can offer Vesey a spot next to his friend Jack Eichel as the club’s one-two punch for the next 10 years if they really wanted to. The Maple Leafs could do the same, but with Auston Matthews, oh and his dad Jim and his brother Nolan are in the organization, too, Jim as a scout and Nolan as a prospect. Chicago can simply point to their three Stanley Cup banners since 2010, and it’s not hard to see Vesey finding a fit within the Blackhawks’ top-nine, even if the club remains unwilling to “promise” anything to him just yet. Fits in either New Jersey or New York allow Vesey to be around fellow local talents and executives, all while not playing with the pressure of his hometown on his back, which may be a sneaky plus to him.
With all that considered, is Vesey a must have for Sweeney and the Bruins? Not quite.
When you look at Boston’s left side, it’s perhaps the club’s best strength after their vaunted depth at center (something that only improved with the offseason signing of David Backes). Top-line left-winger
Brad Marchand scored 37 goals a year ago, the most by any Bruin in the Claude Julien era. Matt Beleskey is the perfect second/third-line power forward presence for the club, and put up a solid 15 goals and a career-best 37 points in 80 games in his first season with Boston. And then there’s the wild card, the undrafted
Frankie Vatrano, a shoot-from-anywhere talent that tallied a combined 44 goals and 66 points in 75 games between Providence and Boston last year. The East Longmeadow, Mass. native proved he’s no fluke, either, as he parlayed that strong regular season into a World Championship run with Team USA that included three goals and eight points in 10 games.
That’s a solid grouping, with or without Vesey, and it’s far from an area of need for the Bruins.
It’s also worth noting that barring a Cup-winning goal, Vesey seems unlikely to be the missing piece that transforms the 2016-17 Bruins into Stanley Cup favorites. Well, maybe unless the Bruins plan on converting him into a top-pairing defenseman, and y’know, making him a right-hand shooter, too.
But as we jump back to reality, what are the realistic expectations for Vesey’s first-year jump from the NCAA to the NHL? 20 goals and 40,
maybe 45, points in a second or third-line role? Blake Wheeler, a player with a similar road to that traveled by Vesey, put up 21 goals and 45 points in his rookie season with Boston after refusing to sign with Arizona (drafted fifth overall in 2004). Kevin Hayes, a player like both Wheeler and Vesey, scored 17 goals and 45 points in his first pro season with New York after refusing to sign with the Hawks (drafted 24th overall in 2010).
Still, that’s 45 points the Bruins would happily take, though, if Vesey’s up for doing it in their sweater.
Then again, so would any one of the other teams mentioned.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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