For a while, Ville Leino was really one of the league’s better stories.
An undrafted talent out of Finland, the 6-foot-1 winger landed in Philadelphia via a trade out of Detroit, and simply took off. While he was never a point-per-game producer on Broad St. -- though he did have an impressive 21 goals and 57 points in just 94 regular season games as a Flyer -- Leino’s game undoubtedly went up when it mattered most. In fact, his 21 points were the third-most among Philly skaters during the club’s improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010. And when he left Philadelphia as a free agent in the summer of 2011, he left as a player carving out a niche as a playoff striker-- racking up 10 goals and 28 points in just 37 career playoff games. (This is just about where the story gets real ugly, real quick for Leino.)
Signed to a six-year, $27 million deal by the Buffalo Sabres on the first day of free agency in 2011, the expectations for a player that never recorded more than 19 goals or 53 points in an NHL season went up drastically. No longer could Leino lay in the weeds behind names like Giroux, Briere, and Richards. He’d have to do more. And in Buffalo, that proved to be an absolutely daunting task.
In three absolutely maddening years with the Sabres, Leino scored just 10 times, was credited with a point a mere 46 times, and was even outscored by John Scott in his final year with the club.
The final stat-line as a Blade? 10 goals, 46 points, and a minus-18 rating in 137 games. Yikes. This ultimately led to Leino’s compliance buyout this summer, and put the Finnish winger back on the open market. And while nobody was waiting with a briefcase of money this time around, the veteran of 286 NHL games will get his crack at redemption via a professional tryout with the Boston Bruins.
He’ll join Simon Gagne in this regard.
What can we really say about Leino that hasn’t already been said? Well, for starters, he’s a lefty shot. As you know, the Bruins already have about a billion of those. But what makes Leino different from a Gagne for example is the fact that he’s played left wing, right wing, and center throughout his NHL career. He’s younger than Gagne (34), and doesn’t turn 31 ‘til Oct. 6. He was one of the few Sabres players that found a way to draw penalties and push offense in a disastrous 2013-14, too. Leino looked like a much better player under coach Ted Nolan than he did Ron Rolston, as well. (Overall, he was still a complete bust for the Sabres, mind you, but I thought this was worth noting.)
Let’s be honest, Leino the Sabre was a complete punchline. I can’t deny that. Hell, I even won the Bruins Media Tweet of the Week once by starting a #morepointsthanLeino hashtag. But he could find an interesting fit with the Black and Gold, I think. If Leino has more in the tank than Gagne, he could be an even better fit for that B’s third line with Carl Soderberg and yet-to-be-determined.
There’s obvious value in flexibility, and Leino has just that.
And much like Gagne, this is a player that wants to put himself back on the NHL map. He can’t (and won’t) ask for millions from this cap-strung club, and he just has to know that Boston is a great city to go to for players looking to reestablish their value in this league (but not you, Joe Corvo).
At the end of the day, Leino’s a supporting cast member, and his nightmarish stint in Buffalo proved that. In Boston, however, with a loaded top six, an inner-channeling of that Philly style that made him millions could make him a legitimate cast member on the Bruins’ third line.
For the Bruins, this is a freebie, a potential gimme, and a no-brainer.
Can’t knock ‘em for trying at this point.