While making the announcement for the contract extensions of both Torey Krug and Reilly Smith Friday, Peter Chiarelli referred to Smith is a 20-goal scorer.
It is important to know that Smith has only one year under his belt as a 20-goal scorer, which came last season in his first year with the Bruins. Chiarelli seems to believe Smith has the 20-goal scorer prowess after just one productive season, and because Chiarelli views Smith the way he does, the apparent ‘20-goal scorer’ will have a costly cap hit for the next two season, with $3.35 million in the first year and $3.5 million in the second year.
How will Chiarelli feel if his ‘20-goal scorer’ doesn’t hit the 20-goal mark this season? He’ll just pay him $3.5 million next year.
Smith has been struggling of late in the goals-scored department, and has posted only 12 goals this season. Smith, often times the top-line right winger this year, seems to only find success offensively when he is paired with the likes of Patrice Bergeron – then again, who wouldn’t?
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It has been 5 games since Smith has last found the back of the net. That came on Feb. 22 when the Bruins routed the Chicago Blackhawks. Though his current minor draught of goals is in fact minor, Smith has had several long stretches of goalless games this season. His longest spanned from Nov. 12 until Dec. 1 – a total of 10 games without a goal.
Yet Chiarelli seems to have sound confidence in the struggling Smith, even to go as far as calling him a ‘20-goal scorer’.
If, in fact, Smith fails to reach 20 goals this season, he’ll still be nearly making as much money as Chris Kelly, who brings in $3.5 million this season. Kelly’s case seems to draw parallels with Smith’s current state.
Chiarelli called Kelly a 20-goal scorer when drawing up his latest contract after the 34-year-old reached that peak exactly at 20 goals during the 2011-2012 season.
Since that season, Kelly has posted 3 goals in the 2012-2013 season, 9 (2013-2014), and currently has posted 7 goals this season. That is the definition of a 20-goal scorer in the eyes of Peter Chiarelli.
And now it appears Smith is Chiarelli’s next ‘20-goal scorer’ to pay north of $3 million per year. Chiarelli seems to believe that if you manage to score 20 goals one year, you are destined to mirror that past success. If Kelly’s case did not prove it to the general manager, Smith’s just may.
What makes matters worse was the timing for Smith’s extension.
The 23-year-old was coming off a one-year deal worth a cap hit of $1.4 million, a fair value for a young forward trying to prove himself. That rather soft paycheck for Smith, in a contract year, should have given him the incentive to grind his way towards another 20-goal season and a more lucrative contract. Yet Chiarelli seems to have done the work for him, minus the production the team was looking for.
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Smith has now lost the motivation to fight for a new, lucrative contract, and may have lost the edge a player finds when they reach a contract year. Chiarelli is also promoting the notion that average players at best, much like Smith, can find themselves extended for two years and earn roughly a $2 million raise.
Chiarelli wanted to get these deals of Krug and Smith done sooner rather than later, unlike this year when the two missed most of training camp. Resigning a young forward like Smith is not the issue. It is the fact that Chiarelli already feels Smith is proven without letting the remainder of this season unfold. The GM could have held his ground, watched from the 9th floor of the Garden for the remainder of the year, reevaluate the forward, await his final goals-scored tally, and then make a decision on his contract as soon as the season ceased.
There remains 18 games left on the season, including Sunday’s matinée against the Red Wings. That means Smith has 18 games to score 8 goals and polish off his 20-goal season. Currently, the odds are not in his favor, considering the fact Smith has had stretches of 7, 9, and 10 games without a goal this year.
If the Bruins ultimately fail to reach the playoffs or have a minor cup run in the playoffs, it will be interesting to see how the Jacobs Family evaluates their team’s general manager. If Chiarelli is let go within the next two seasons, depending on how this year and next year’s seasons unfold, he will have left the Bruins as a team battling against the cap with old, veteran talent, little speed, few young promising future players in the system, relatively no sniper-like offensive weapons, and a shootout lineup that is downright pathetic.
Chiarelli would also be notoriously known for paying average players big bucks, like Smith, to contracts that only make cap situations worse.