The Boston Bruins had to make some tough choices at the end of the year. The organization had not made the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons. The organization knew some changes were going to have to be made. They informed some players that they would not be resigned, and other players they let test the waters of free agency. Four former Bruins got picked up by other squads on the first day.
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The biggest move was fourth line center and former Merlot Man Gregory Campbell. Campbell signed a two-year, $3 million dollar contract to play with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Campbell was a part of the 2011 Stanley Cup team, and he spent five years in the Black and Gold uniform. In his time with Boston he put up ninety-one points(39 goals) and had a tendency to be fearless to the point of reckless. As part of the Merlot Men, he along with Daniel Paille and Shawn Thornton were the last of the grinder lines for the Bruins. Soupy will be forever remembered for his playing with a broken leg during the Bruins 2013 run to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Matt Bartkowski was one of the better technical skaters for the Bruins last year. His problem was he tended to over-think a lot of his work. This caused mental mistakes and it led to him spending a good amount of time on the bench last season. Bartkowski also had five seasons with the Bruins, but he spent three of them in the B’s AHL affiliate Providence Bruins. Bartkowski ended up playing a total of 131 games in Boston. He earned twenty-four points during his tenure here. He was snagged by the Vancouver Canucks yesterday. They signed him to a one-year, $1.75 million dollar deal. (Hey, look at what we paid for Adam McQuaid.)
When Bartkowski had his head in the game, he was an effective player. When he wasn’t he was kind of a hot mess on the ice.
Puck Prose
David Warsofsky was a Bruin that had some local connections, but could never really break into the big club. He was part of BU’s 2009 national championship team. Warsfofsky signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The contract has a NHL cap hit of $600,000. He played 10 games with Boston during the last two years, putting up three points(one goal). He played 230 games for the AHL Providence Bruins tallying a total of ninety-five points(18 goals). He was considered part of the Bruins NHL-ready defensive team before the Johnny Boychuk trade began the unraveling of the Boston season.
Finally, Matt Lindblad was allowed to explore free agency after the Bruins didn’t extend him a qualifying offer. Lindblad played four games over two years for the Boston club, putting three shots on goal. He played a total of fifty-five games with the Providence Bruins putting in nine goals for the Baby B’s. He ended up signing with the New York Rangers. No details were available on the terms of Lindblad’s contract.
We at Causeway Crowd wish these former Bruins well with their careers and good luck with their new teams. Hopefully, they won’t score too often (or at all) against the Black and Gold.