My colleague Travis Yost has been doing some great work at SportingNews.com, and one recent piece particularly pertained to Columbus.
Yost was looking at players who posted progressively worse Corsi Relative ratings in three consecutive years, and Jared Boll was one of six players in the NHL to accomplish such a feat.
Blue Jackets without Boll on the ice: pretty good team. Blue Jackets with Boll on the ice: pretty much a train wreck. Columbus gets a significantly higher percentage of the shots when he's on the bench, and generally that correlates with getting more goals, so Boll's numbers are less than encouraging.
For his accomplishments, Boll was rewarded with a three-year deal worth $1.7 million per season.
Boll is actually pretty good at drawing penalties, and unlike most designated fighters he draws more calls than he takes, but that's about the extent of his contributions.
As you can see, Boll doesn't exactly stack up with the rest of the players expected to compete for a 4th line spot this season. When you add Corey Tropp and even Simon Hjalmarsson to the mix, it's not exactly a sure thing he'll earn a roster spot.
There's something to be said about giving 4th liners three-year deals, especially when you're paying them almost $2 million per and there's better in-house options.
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