Sep 26, 2013; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Boston Bruins forward Matt Fraser (25) comes to celebrate his goal with teammates Nick Johnson (32) and forward Ryan Spooner (51) during the third period at MTS Centre. Bruins win 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
Despite scoring 4 goals over the course of this pre-season with the Boston Bruins, forward Nick Johnson is heading to Providence in favour of Jordan Caron
May I ask why?
Caron has been given 88 games over the course of the last 3 seasons (2010 – 2013) in the NHL and has only scored 24 points. He is wildly inconsistent at both the NHL level and the AHL level and it’s one of the several horrible and strange moves the Bruins have made to the roster at the end of September. The first being picking Chad Johnson over Niklas Svedberg.
Caron has been given 3 chances to show he has the capability to perform at the professional level and he hasn’t. He is absolutely dreadful in the offensive end and is a horrific liability in the neutral zone and in the defensive zone. He’s only finished a solid + once in his career and it was a +3, the other two chances he’s had in the NHL he’s finished even and just barely a +1 this past season. I have been highly critical of Jordan Caron for quite sometime but it’s not unprecedented, he throws “huge” hits along the boards in the offensive zone allowing the puck to come free but never goes to play it, he attempts to make cuts and passes across the offensive blue line and either turns the puck over or passes to nobody and forces an offside against his own team. I’ve watched him play in the AHL and the NHL and there is not one positive I can pull out for him. He’s definitely show flashes of brilliance over the years but so did Cameron Mann, Mikko Eloranta, and Mark Stuart but they weren’t worth the money they were given or the roster time they were given and were all eventually dumped after 3 seasons (with the exception of Stuart who some how stayed around for 6 seasons).
But the question I propose to the Bruins is why bother keeping him over Johnson?
We all know that Caron isn’t worth this contract, his playing time or even worth this team’s time anymore, but I am seriously flabbergasted as to why the Bruins would keep him up on the team instead of Johnson. Some articles I’ve read have said it was a “cap issue”. Well maybe if the Bruins signed Chad Johnson, Nick Johnson, and Mike Moore to Professional Try Out contracts as opposed to inking them to deals right away there wouldn’t be a cap issue or maybe if they held out on Rask longer and forced him into singing a smaller deal (like what Nonis did with Kadri and Franson) and maybe Kelly shouldn’t have gotten that 12 million dollar contract and instead a 4 mil or 5 mil contract for 2 years. It’s just a strange feeling to see the Bruins go from spending absolutely no money at all to just throwing contracts everywhere, especially for someone like me who had to live through the whole Bill Guerin fiasco. I thought the days of making mistakes with money were over, but obviously they aren’t. Caron shouldn’t have been resigned to a 1 year contract to begin with he should have been left to walk. If the Bruins are expecting to trade him, they can forget it because you won’t be getting anything back for him. We already tried trading a bust (Zach Hamill) and only got Chris Bourque, who performed amazing in Providence, suffered on the Bruins due to pressure and just not having the size or skill to compete at the NHL level.
It’s mind boggling that the Bruins would really be willing to pull the trigger on such huge deals and then when they finally have an option for a third liner they go and take a gamble sending him to Providence along with a perfect back up option for Rask. Caron would have had no trouble passing waivers, he’s done it multiple times over the last 3 years and it won’t be different this time. We have a higher risk of losing Johnson and Svedberg now that they are traveling through the waiver wire. Caron has to go, no if’s and’s or but’s about it. He was given his chance a long time ago, it’s time to move on and stop dragging this dead horse out.