The Boston Bruins biggest weakness this season was their inability to trust the right people. The B’s would give up certain players after just a few games. The B’s gave up on Matt Irwin after just two NHL games this season. On the flip side, they would keep players at the NHL level who probably should have been in Providence. Joonas Kemppainen was one of those players.
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Joonas Kemppainen – Forward
Games Played: 44
Goals/Assists/Points: 2 /3 / 5 (one shorthanded goal, 35 SOG with a 5.7% shot success rate)
Joonas Kemppainen was signed as a free agent before the start of last season. The Bruins were hoping that Kemppainen could make a quick transition from European to NHL ice. They were also hoping that Kemppainen would be a solid replacement for Gregory Campbell, who the B’s had let go after the B’s disappointing 2014-15 season.
Kemppainen was able to find some success early for Boston. He was part of the fourth line and seemed to have some luck with forward Ryan Spooner. That early success evaporated as Ryan Spooner moved up to replace an injured Chris Kelly, and Kemppainen never seemed to find his stride on NHL ice.
The Bruins organization kept trying to ways to make Kemppainen fit, but never could seem to find the right combination of players to take advantage of his talents. Kemppainen was a big, physical player that played the body and was good at it. It’s just that he didn’t bring much to the table in the offensive zone. (If you thought the lack of a puck-moving defenseman was bad, having a stay at home forward was even worse.)
Once again, the Bruins continued with their philosophy of ‘rather lose the war than admit to the mistake’. They kept him on the ice for over half the season before they realized it likely wasn’t going to work. The Bruins sent the 28-year old center down to Providence in the hopes of being able to use him again.
That plan never panned out either.
Final Grade: D