Boston Bruins Will Sign Jimmy Vesey From Harvard According To Report

Boston Bruins Will Sign Jimmy Vesey From Harvard According To Report From Boston Herald

Harvard University captain Jimmy Vesey made headlines this week when he informed the Nashville Predators he wouldn’t be signing with them during their exclusive-rights period. The Predators had his rights as a result of selecting him in the third round of the 2012 NHL draft. Vesey decided to exercise his right, and thus becoming a free agent on August 15.

According to the Boston Herald, Vesey will be signing with the Boston Bruins late this summer once he officially becomes a free agent, this is per a “extremely well-placed source within the Boston-area college hockey community.” Vesey is 6-foot-3, 205-pound, during his career at Harvard he scored 56 goals in 70 games. Jimmy grew up as a Bruin’s fan in North Reading, Massachusetts.

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There is a clear Harvard-Bruins connection as Crimson alum Don Sweeney is the Bruin’s general manager, and ex-Bruin Ted Donato is currently the head coach at Harvard. Signing Vesey could help lessen potential loss of Loui Eriksson, who is expected to leave Boston when he becomes a free agent this off-season in his pursuit for a big money deal.

Up until this past week the Predators thought that Vesey was going to sign with them, and Nashville GM Dave Poile made his displeasure with the situation known.

"“We told him if he was going to sign with us, we were going to keep a position available for him, and he told us that he was going to sign with us,” Poile told reporters earlier this week. “Up until a week ago Wednesday, I thought for sure we were going to sign Jimmy Vesey. So this is a shocker.“I clearly believe that Jimmy’s received bad advice and bad counsel. A player usually goes to free agency in order to increase his leverage and benefit financially, and that will not be the case here because whoever he signs with, he’s going to get less of a deal on Aug. 15 than he could get from the Predators today. He’s going to sign for an extra year at the same money.”"

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One of the likely destinations for Vesey was the Toronto Maple Leafs is father, former NHL player Jim Vesey, was hired by the Maple Leafs as a scout last summer, and that his brother Nolan was drafted by Toronto in 2014 as well. Since he will not be able to sign with a team until August 15th there is still plenty of time for him to explore additional options and nothing will be set in stone until his free agency period.