Recently I have mentioned Sean Bergenheim (my personal #1 choice) and Daniel Winnik as potential bottom six help for the Penguins. Today my search continues and it will stay in South Florida as I analyze another one their players for potential trade.
Today we look at Brad Boyes. I have written about Boyes and the Penguins in the past
Once again the logic here is that Florida is trying to purge their older players in an effort to pave the way for younger players to get into the lineup.
Here is Boyes HERO chart
This is actually pretty good. Second line level stuff all the way through.
Let’s get a little context for his usage in Florida. Here is Florida’s player usage chart for this season sorting by relative Quality of Teammate:
Boyes is doing well in the possession department but as we see he is also the benefactor of playing with a high QoT. Would he receive that same benefit in Pittsburgh? I would have my reservations about that. However, he is the kind of guy who could fill in temporarily in a top six role and not look completely out of place. Always nice to have that kind of flexibility.
I added Bergenheim to the chart just to provide context that he is able to drive possession without a high QoT. This is important because of the role he would potentially take over in a move to Pittsburgh.
Lastly, Boyes is not a UFA. He has one more year left on his contract with a cap hit of 2.6M.
Brad Boyes is an underrated NHL player and his cap hit seems very reasonable given his production.
If the Penguins wanted to go this route they could potentially offer up Nick Spaling, but I don’t believe the Penguins are looking to move Spaling. Additionally, who knows if Spaling would even be a player of interest for Florida.
When comparing the two players in a vacuum it sure seems like a nice upgrade for the Penguins to me.
As we get closer to the deadline I will continue to search through NHL rosters to find players that could potentially help the Penguins out for the stretch run.
Thanks for reading!
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