Boston Bruins Should Bring Back Matt Bartkowski
The Boston Bruins look to be done on the free agent market and on the trade front for now, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t consider bringing in more defensive help. The team currently has seven defensemen signed and on their NHL roster for the upcoming season.
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Seven defensemen signed on the NHL roster may seem like a fine number with six starting and one eating popcorn on the promenade level. But a look at the Bruins NHL defense depth shows a real lack of proven talent in players such as Joe Morrow, and Colin Miller who have seen limited ice time so far in their careers. The Bruins could use some extra protection in their d-core depth and this could come in the form of a former Bruins player Matt Bartkowski who remains unsigned at 28 years old.
Matt Bartkowski has 211 career NHL games under his belt and played in parts of 5 seasons for the Bruins. Most recently Bartkowski played for the Vancouver Canucks playing a career high 80 games. Bartkowski has seen better days in quality of play with his best season coming in the 13-14 season for the Bruins where his +/- was 22 with just over 19 minutes on ice in 64 games.
Predlines
Last season for the Canucks was a down year for Bart despite playing in 80 games he had a negative 19 for his plus/minus, granted he was playing for a team that finished 7 games under .500. Bartkowski is not a great defenseman by any stretch of the imagination, but he has played well in the Bruins system in previous years and he comes dirt cheap as far as salary. With the Bruins waiting for defensive prospects to develop down in Providence the team can afford to offer Bartkowski a training camp invite on a one-year deal veteran minimum.
Betting on Bartkowski to step up and have a career revival here under Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien is actually more realistic than it seems. Bartkowski is a puck moving defenseman that skates well and gets shots on goal every game. In addition, he isn’t afraid to get physical and take up the big bad bruin mentality, last year he posted a career-high 50 PIMS with the number trending up every year he has been in the league.
You can let me know your thoughts on bringing back Bartkowski either in the comment section below or the Twitter poll that I have posted.
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Now I know many will balk at the idea of bringing Bartkowski back, I truly believe that this can be a win-win situation for both parties. Bartkowski gets another shot in the NHL with a team he has had success for and the Bruins get some insurance on defense, a position they have a lack of depth at. If Bartkowski fails, it wouldn’t be a huge loss, and the team would simply end up back at square one.