Boston Bruins: Why Is Chris Kelly On This Team?
To say Chris Kelly should be on this Boston Bruins team would be a farce.
I don’t understand where a guy like Kelly fits on this roster. And he sure as hell doesn’t fit with the cap management with a $3 million contract.
Let’s remember, there have been many poorly regulated contracts from the Peter Chiarelli days. We know the Reilly Smith extension in the middle of his sophomore season worth $6.85 million. In his 14th year in the league, Dennis Seidenberg‘s extension from Oct. 2013 in the final year of his contract got handed a four-year, $16-million extension. The brutal deals are there, still lingering from the now Edmonton Oilers general manager Chiarelli. Current B’s GM Don Sweeney added to the madness with that awful Adam McQuaid extension. But I don’t know if any are as bad as Kelly’s extension from back in June of 2012. That year, Kelly was making $2 million before being handed that awful, laughable extension of four-years, $12-million. That contract was handed after watching Kelly play his first full season in Boston (82 games in 2011-12 season). Back on June 14th, in a NESN report, Chiarelli stated: “You’ve seen him score clutch goals for us, you’ve seen him take clutch faceoffs for us, you’ve seen him make great defensive plays, make great offensive plays, and he shows up every night”. Yeah, that might have been what Kelly was like back when the Bruins won a Stanley Cup and he played 82 games, scored 20 goals (first and last time in his career in 2011-12). Boy, things sure went down hill fast for Kelly after that extension. Chiarelli essentially put all his chips in on Kelly after 106 games with the organization. He felt acclimated with overpaying and overvaluing, so he dished out a $3 million cap hit on the aging, unproductive Chris Kelly.
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I’m not one for hyperbole, but man, I could write 5,000 words on that Kelly extension, and the mere fact that he’s still a member of this team.
At this point, we all know coach Claude Julien‘s system by now. The kids sit. The praised vets play. Julien can’t trust the kids on defense. That’s why fourth liners like Chris Kelly see the ice on the fourth line.
I just don’t understand how the Bruins can’t see what’s wrong with this picture: they’re paying an unproductive, old fourth liner $3 million a year and his number’s have declined ever since he signed the extension. What also doesn’t make sense is how Julien plays Kelly more as he ages. Look at his ATOI. His career ATOI is 14:56. His season ATOI was 15:06. Over the years, his ATOI gradually grew (14:52 in 2010-11, 14:44 in 2011-12, 14:58 in 2012-13, 14:42 in 2013-14). These are the many question I have for Julien and company. Why are you playing your 34-year-old fourth liner 15:00 a night? Look at his total goals against while on ice. That number was 48 last year. His total goals for while on the ice was 40. It begs the question: why is Chris Kelly still on this team?
Look at the Stanley Cup final teams. I’ve been saying it all summer: this is where the league is headed. They both have the fourth lines to contend in the modern NHL. They’re cheap. They’re young. They give you what old grinders would give you – minutes – but also give you mobility and activeness. If we want to stack up the numbers of Chicago’s and Tampa’s respected centers on the fourth line, they show how unnecessary a guy like Kelly is. Look at Marcus Kruger of Chicago (25-year-old). His ATOI is 14:02 for his career. His season ATOI was 13:05 last year. Look at Brian Boyle (30) of Tampa. His ATOI is 13:04 for his career. His season ATOI was 12:00 last year. That’s exactly how much a fourth line center should play. Not only do Boyle and Kruger play reasonable minutes, they also receive reasonable salaries. Kruger makes $1.4 million. Boyle makes $2 million. Kruger’s plus-minus was minus-4. Boyle’s was plus-3. Kelly’s was plus-6. Doesn’t this slightly prove that fourth liners aren’t gritty players anymore? They aren’t out there to only stop pucks and eat minutes, but also create chances. What don’t the Bruins get? Why are the shelling out $3 million for a fourth liner to play more than what he’s worth for less production?
If the Bruins send out the projected fourth line of Max Talbot – Kelly – Zach Rinaldo, its average age would be 30. Both Tampa and Chicago have an average age of 25-years-old. If I was Sweeney, I would do anything I could to get this guy off my team. There are teams out there, surprisingly, that may want Kelly. No one is expecting any capital coming Boston’s way for a guy like Chris Kelly. Some of his biggest hatters would take a bag of pucks for him. But why not entertain a deal with, say, Edmonton? Chiarelli endorsed Kelly back in Boston, clearly he still sees value in him after only being away from this team for four months now. Remember when those rumors came out about Milan Lucic possibly landing with the Oilers? That’s because both parties, Boston and Edmonton, shared common history: Chiarelli. What’s the worst that could happen if Sweeney entertained discussions with Chiarelli involving Kelly? It’s worth a shot.
There are options in this organization to fill the void – if you want to call it that – left by Kelly in this hypothetical move. Seth Griffith is out there. He’s 22 and can play the position for $759,166 against the cap.
Chris Kelly doesn’t belong on this team. Count me as one of the many that feel his time has come and gone.
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Stats from this report were used by hockeyreference.com