The Pittsburgh Penguins will eventually have to make a deal for another forward because of the Pascal Dupuis injury, that much we know.
What we don’t know is how Ray Shero will go about finding this forward. Will he make a huge splash with high end assets to acquire a top 6 forward? Will he go after a high end 3rd line guy like Steve Ott? Or will he grab an under the radar guy who will not cost an arm and a leg?
Today I thought I would highlight one of the under the radar players that probably would not drain the Penguins of valuable assets. That player is Florida Panthers winger Brad Boyes.
Brad Boyes is a former 40 goal scorer and has also hit the 30 goal mark in his career. However, Boyes has not come close to those kind of goal totals since the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009.
Is Boyes washed up or can he still provide some offense? Here are Boyes’ goals per game and points per game averages for the past 6 seasons.
Noticeable is just how impressive his numbers were when he was with the St. Louis Blues from 2007-2009. Those aren’t realistic totals to expect from Boyes anymore.
You will see a huge dip in Boyes’ production in the 2011-2012 season. That was his lone full season with the Buffalo Sabres. The Buffalo Sabres were guilty of misusing Brad Boyes in a 4th line role while giving him limited power play ice time. The combination of playing with guys like Cody McCormick and Patrick Kaleta while playing on a below average team did not do him any favors.
After leaving Buffalo you can see his offensive production start to rise again.
In fact, Boyes' 0.72 points per game production on the New York Islanders last season is very respectable.
Over the course of his career he has been a solid puck possession guy. He has also been on the ice for more goals for than against. Here are his possession and GF% stats during the same time period:
Very few times has Boyes been a negative possession player. Even during his full season in Buffalo he was not a liability on the ice as a 4th line player.
The past two years for both the Islanders and the Panthers Boyes has been a positive possession player.
His GF% has been at 50% the past two season.
Brad Boyes is obviously not going to be the Penguins #1 choice in trying to replace Pascal Dupuis, but if the Penguins don’t want to part with extremely valuable assets they may have to look in the direction of a guy like Boyes.
Boyes is very good on the power play and in the shootout. He can still put the puck in the net when given the opportunity. Playing with Crosby and Kunitz would definitely provide that kind of opportunity.
It’s not perfect, but it’s an option to think about.
If you are looking for more in depth information about Brad Boyes Matthew Coller of WGR in Buffalo did a great statistical breakdown of Boyes that you can find here .
Thanks for reading!