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To the shock of no one, it would appear that the Bruins are trying to trade Ryan Spooner.
According to a report from the Hockey News, the Bruins are entertaining offers on their 25-year-old pending restricted free agent, and that the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights are among those most interested in acquiring Spooner from the Black and Gold.
Again, this is far from a shock.
“Well, to be determined,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney bluntly said when asked about Spooner’s future with the Bruins. “We’ll look at our roster and what our options are. He has options as well as an RFA and we’ll have discussions with his representatives and see where there’s a fit.”
It was in the final two games of the club’s first-round series loss to the Senators that Spooner sat as a healthy scratch. The first time was in favor of Sean Kuraly, who instantly rewarded the Bruins with the game-tying and game-winning goals in a must-win Game 5 survival in Ottawa. But the second time was most indicative of just how far Spooner had fallen out of favor with the B’s coaching staff, as a David Krejci injury did not land Spooner back in action for Game 6. Instead, it was Matt Beleskey, who had perhaps the worst year of his NHL career this past season, in action over Spooner.
“Ryan struggled down the stretch, had a nice bump when Bruce [Cassidy] first took over, the familiarity probably helped. Offensively it tailed off. The series had gone on against Ottawa that it became pretty tight, every game was one goal and we felt that every inch was a bit of a battleground to try and win. I think Sean [Kuraly] and Noel [Acciari] and some of the guys that had done a nice job with us, it was just decisions personnel wise that Bruce decided to make lineup wise,” Sweeney recalled of that move. “Every player is affected that way at times, coming in and their ice time.”
In what was a inconsistent-at-best year, Spooner recorded 11 goals and 39 points in 78 games played, but definitely played his best hockey when Cassidy took over for Claude Julien. Moved back to his natural center position after 50 games of Julien trying to see what he could squeeze out of Spooner as a winger, No. 51 tallied three goals and 12 points in 24 games under Cassidy’s lead, but ended his season with one assist in the final eight games of the year, and had zero even-strength points in the final 12 games of the regular season. He would then add two assists (both of which were secondary helpers on the power-play) in four playoff games for the Bruins.
Still, there’s an obvious market for Spooner given his ceiling and skill-set. The only problem with that market, however, is that none of the teams mentioned in regards to a potential Spooner trade really have what the Bruins would want (a left-shot defenseman or a scoring winger). The most appealing option could be with Vegas, as a deal could be worked out where Spooner landing in Vegas would allow the Bruins to keep their deep defense corps intact come June’s expansion draft.
“Ryan’s a talented player and he’s had a lot of success,” Sweeney noted. “Our power play is better when he plays as well as he’s capable of playing and he can be a good complement to our group.”
Worth noting, by the way, that the Bruins have the fourth-best power-play percentage (21.1%) in the entire league since Spooner broke into the league as a full-time NHLer in 2015.
Spooner has spent his entire career with the Bruins, with 32 goals and 117 points in 214 games.
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), can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal magazine, 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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