Bruins Report Cards: Gregory Campbell, Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton

Causeway Crowd will be handing out report cards for each Bruins player. Wednesday, we graded Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask. Today, we start with the forwards in numerical order, starting with Gregory Campbell, Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton.

Name: Gregory Campbell
Position: Center
Shoots: Left
Age: 27
Height and weight: 6-foot, 197 pounds
Contract: $1.1 million, UFA in 2012

Stats:

Regular Season:

GP: 80

G: 13

A: 16

PTS: 29

Plus/Minus: Plus-11

PIM: 93
Playoffs:

GP: 25

G: 1

A: 3

Plus/Minus: Minus-2

PIM: 4

The Skinny: Campbell was seemingly a spare part that was thrown in as part of the Nathan Horton trade. However, “Soupy” quickly became a fan favorite thanks to his hard-nosed play, his willingness to drop the gloves, his ability to kill penalties, and the fact he was able to score as a fourth-line center. He set a career high in goals (13) and his 29 points were the second-best in his career. He also won 52 percent of his face-offs and played great on the PK in the playoffs, where he played over 70 minutes short-handed.

Grade: B+ – Campbell was one of the best fourth-line centers in the NHL this season.

Name: Milan Lucic

Position: Left wing
Shoots: Left
Age: 23
Height and weight: 6-foot-3, 228 pounds
Contract: $4.083 million, RFA at end of 2013 season

Stats:

Regular Season:

GP: 79

G: 30

A: 32

PTS: 62

Plus/Minus: Plus-28

PIM: 121
Playoffs:

GP: 25

G: 5

A: 7

Plus/Minus: Plus-11

PIM: 63

The Skinny: Lucic was tremendous during the regular season, notching career highs in goals, assists, points, and game-winning goals (7). He was physical, played hard in front of the net, and was often Boston’s best forward. Lucic was one of just two players in the NHL who notched 30 goals and 100 PIMs, with league MVP Corey Perry being the other. He was not at his best in the playoffs, perhaps due to a sinus infection, but he played great over the final five games of the finals.

Grade: A- — Lucic was awesome in the regular season and came up big in the finals.

Name: Nathan Horton
Position: Right wing

Shoots: Right
Age: 26
Height and weight: 6-foot-2, 229 pounds
Contract: $4 million per season; UFA after 2013

Stats:
Regular season:

GP: 80

G: 26

A: 27

PTS: 63

PIM: 95

Playoffs:

GP: 21

G: 8

A: 9

PTS: 17

PIM: 35

The Skinny: Horton struggled through parts of the season, scoring just seven goals in 42 games after scoring five in his first nine. He picked it up in January, however, scoring 14 goals over the final 32 games. He was Mr. Clutch in the playoffs, scoring two OT goals in the opening round and adding the game-winner in Game 7 against Tampa Bay in the conference finals. He was playing well against Vancouver before his season was ended when Aaron Rom’e hit to the head gave Horton a concussion.

Grade: B+ — Horton was a B- in the regular season, but an A in the playoffs.