Boston Bruins: Jeremy Lauzon’s new contract will prove a bargain
Jeremy Lauzon is still a relatively fresh face in the NHL, but it looks like the Boston Bruins have a future second-pairing defenseman on their hands.
Heading into this season, Jeremy Lauzon was due to become a restricted free agent, had some potential and had seen some game-time with the Boston Bruins last season, due to blue-line injuries. However, there was no guarantees on him making it stick in the big league.
This season though, Jeremy Lauzon earned his promotion to the Boston Bruins line-up much later on in the year, playing 45 games in Providence prior to his call-up. In his 7 NHL appearances this year, he’s shown a willingness to use his body and size to disrupt the play and offer a little more grit on the blue-line.
Signing him to a two-year deal paying just $850,000 per season is going to eventually prove an absolute bargain for the Boston Bruins. Torey Krug is expecting a payday this summer and Jake Debrusk will want a raise too, among others, thus securing Lauzon so cheaply is a big coup.
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When the Boston Bruins have $5 million in cap space (albeit some offset by long-term injured reserve) tied up in two defensemen that don’t really offer much value anymore – Kevan Miller and John Moore; this sort of deal becomes even more valuable.
The fact that the deal was signed mid-season is actually a very clever tactic by Bruins GM, Don Sweeney. A career-total 23 NHL games isn’t much of a sample size and it meant the cap cost could be kept right down.
If Lauzon continues to put up a decent showing (and avoids any more suspensions), he could rightly have been asking for $1 million at the end of the season, especially if he makes his promotion stick permanently.
You have to imagine the Bruins will seek to move Moore and Miller at the deadline, especially as there’s a plethora of options all waiting in Providence.
Connor Clifton somehow leap-frogged bigger names last year and Jeremy Lauzon has done so this year. However, I’m sure we’ve not heard the last of Urho Vaakanainen or Jakub Zboril; the Providence Bruins certainly are doing a decent job of keeping our defense stocked.
Lauzon this year proved too good for Providence and rightfully earned a promotion, which thankfully seems to be the way Boston operates. If a player has earned it, they get promoted and don’t stagnate in the AHL forever waiting for a spot to open up.
Next. Brett Ritchie experiment will end as a throw-in on a trade. dark
In two years time, the hope will be that Jeremy Lauzon has firmly established himself in the NHL and won’t be making ridiculous demands if he expects $2 million a year on a new contract. If that’s the case, we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank on this deal.