Boston Bruins rumored to be interested in free agent veteran defenseman
The Boston Bruins reportedly have interest in former Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Ben Hutton.
There’s no question that the Boston Bruins could use a veteran defenseman for the left side of their blueline for 2021 with Torey Krug now playing for the St. Louis Blues and the uncertainty of the return of Zdeno Chara.
Well, according to a recent article by Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now, Boston seems to have interest in former Los Angeles defenseman Ben Hutton.
Hutton is a former 2012 fifth-round (147th overall) pick of the Vancouver Canucks and is currently just 27 years old. He is coming off what could be considered his best overall and defensive season after struggling in his own zone his entire tenure with Vancouver.
Last season saw Hutton significantly improve defensively, while also put up decent numbers offensively. Last season was in fact Hutton’s only season out of his five seasons in the NHL with a positive plus/minus (+/-) and positive expected plus/minus (E+/-).
Along with improving defensively, Hutton’s possession metrics also drastically increased. This was his first season where his Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and Fenwick-for percentage (FF%) were above 50.0.
Hutton did this while also staying consistent with his offensive production. He produced around what he normally does with four goals and 12 assists for 16 points.
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Should the Boston Bruins sign Ben Hutton?
Hutton’s last contract was just a one-year deal with the Kings worth just $1.5 million. My guess is that he will probably get around the same deal wherever he goes next, maybe he’ll receive a two-year deal.
However, overall, I think Hutton is a risky option. While he had a good year defensively last season, career-wise this is not the case. Over his career, Hutton has a +/- of -70, E+/- of -43.4, CF% of 49.1, and FF% of 48.3.
His bad +/- and E+/- can be explained by him being on the recently bad defensive teams of the Canucks. Over his tenure with the Canucks, the team was consistently in the 20s for goals allowed. While in his one year with the Kings, they were ranked 14th.
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Overall, I think Hutton would be a decent option for the Bruins’ third pairing. However, as I hinted at earlier, last season was a bit of an outlier for Hutton defensively. I would rather have the B’s go for a defenseman that has had more than one season in his career with a positive +/- and E+/-.