The Boston Bruins will need to find the right person to fill in the holes left in the lost season. Milan Lucic and Reilly Smith‘s departure now require the B’s to find the right two players to replace them. Jimmy Hayes is one of those players, and it’s critical that the Bruins need to put Hayes in the right spot for opening night.
A lot of people were hoping that Jimmy Hayes would be a great replacement for Milan Lucic. While Hayes could do a very adequate job as a top-six forward for the Black and Gold, even his 6-foot-6 frame won’t quite be able to put the kind of numbers that Lucic could. Hayes career best so far has been nineteen goals, and Lucic in his prime was more than capable of putting up twenty goals and fifty points a season.
More from Bruins News
- Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
- Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
- The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
- NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
- The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci
Hayes would make a solid replacement for Reilly Smith though. Overall, it would be an outstanding line. The precision (and perfection) of Patrice Bergeron. The skill and sewer rat savvy of Brad Marchand. Adding the size and snarl of Hayes would make the Bruins second line a very potent force next season.
Hayes has good hands around the net and will likely be more effective on rebounds and loose pucks than Lucic was those last few years. Hayes has the same kind of heavy body checking game that Lucic has. Lucic (when he was on his game) is a much faster skater than Hayes is. Hayes probably won’t be as good as a fore-checker as Lucic is. That’s part of the reason I’d like to see Hayes paired up with Bergeron. Bergeron always seems to get more out of his linemates(look what he got out of Reilly Smith). It would certainly benefit Hayes to learn from the best defensive-forward in the game.
Puck Prose
Hayes had a strong physical game when he played with the Panthers, and he’ll certainly play as fiercely now that he’s playing for the hometown crowd. While the Panthers usually didn’t do that well against the Bruins these last few years, Hayes could dish out a lot of punishment on the ice. If Hayes can be as aggressive in Boston as he was in Sunrise, then he’ll be fine this season. With Loui Eriksson likely ending up on the top line, Hayes would be a great choice to fill out the top six forwards on opening night.