According to rumours that have been circulating, the Boston Bruins are adding former Florida Panthers second round draft pick, Alex Petrovic on a professional try-out.
Professional tryout contracts aren’t a new idea for the Boston Bruins to utilise; Lee Stempniak and Daniel Winnik were among those trialled at training camp last year. It’s more the fact that they’re looking at a defenseman such as Alex Petrovic that is somewhat surprising.
The rumours, stemming from Boston Hockey Now have the 27 year-old lining up at training camp to fight for a full-time gig with the Boston Bruins, despite there being a glut of capable blue-liners wanting roles in the line-up.
If the Boston Bruins are indeed pursuing Alex Petrovic and have the intent of signing him, they’d be gaining a player that seems most comfortable in a more stay-at-home role; he has just five NHL goals and 45 assists in over 250 games and looking further back, even his Western Hockey League numbers don’t scream out offensive blue-liner.
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Last season, he split time between the Florida Panthers; playing 26 games with just the one assist and a distinctly average -8 plus/minus score before being sent to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Chris Wideman and a conditional 2019 third round draft pick. Once in Edmonton, he only featured nine times, grabbing one more assist and a miserable -9 plus/minus.
This suggests either he struggled on bad teams or that he genuinely isn’t cut out to play the modern-day NHL game. Where he fits with the Boston Bruins would clearly be as a sixth or seventh defenseman with his key redeeming feature being his willingness to play physical, using his 6’3″ frame to put himself between players and the puck.
His hit count and the number of shots he blocked certainly highlight him as a player willing to play his role within a team, knowing that he isn’t relied upon specifically as a point producer or for skill necessarily.
Given his limited games with the Florida Panthers last season, Alex Petrovic was given more penalty-killing time than ever reliable veteran, Keith Yandle. In fact, if you pro-rate his penalty kill time to a full 82 games, he’s likely sitting third or fourth in usage among Florida Panthers defenseman.
Adding Alex Petrovic isn’t going to do any damage and there’s every chance the Boston Bruins see the 27 year-old as a very useful reclamation project given he hasn’t yet been picked up in free agency.
Whether he should win a spot on the roster over the guys with the Providence Bruins, or indeed the guys that won their spots last season such as Connor Clifton is a whole different question. However, making a player win his way to a short-term deal is never a bad option.
Alex Petrovic surely will be heading into the Boston Bruins camp with fire in his belly and a point to prove. That’s got to be a good result for both parties.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.