Boston Bruins: What to expect from Chris Wagner in 2021

What can we expect from Boston Bruins’ forward Chris Wagner in 2021?

Finishing up the starting forward group of the Boston Bruins for this “What to Expect” series, today we look at forward Chris Wagner. 2021 will be Wagner’s third season with the B’s and the first year of a three-year extension with an average annual value (AAV) of $1.35 million.

Wagner started off his tenure in Boston hot, scoring a career-high 12 goals, and seven assists for a career-best 19 points in 76 games. Obviously, career-bests in goals and points, Wagner also had career-bests in goals per game and points per game averaging 0.16 and 0.25, respectively.

However, last season, Wags’ second year with the Black and Gold, he cooled down significantly. In 67 games, he registered just six goals and four assists for 10 points — just 0.09 goals per game and 0.06 assists per game for 0.15 points per game.

Now it turns out that Wagner’s second-year averages with the Bruins were much closer to his career paces of 0.11 goals per game and 0.07 assists per game for 0.18 points per game than his first-season paces.

For 2021, I expect Wagner to be the regular right wing for the B’s fourth line. However, If there’s an injury at center, expect him to move over to center as he’s taken over 100 faceoffs in each of his two seasons with Boston — including over 200 last season.

Additionally, expect to see Wags on one of the penalty kill (PK) units. Wagner had a short-handed goal and posted nearly 100 minutes on the PK last season, and plays a physical game where he isn’t afraid to block shots and check the opposition. This is an effective style on the penalty kill.

When it comes to offensive production, I think Wagner will be a little better than he was last season, but not as good as he was in his first season with Boston. I think the averages of the paces of the two seasons will be the results for 2021.

This means that Wags will have a 0.13 goals per game and 0.07 assists per game for a 0.20 points per game for the 2021 season. Additionally, Wagner has never played all 82 games of a season, so I think he’ll miss a few games in 2021 and play 53 of 56 games.

This means that in 53 games Wagner will post seven goals and four assists for 11 points in 2021.

Overall, Wagner is a solid fourth line forward that you can’t expect much offensive production from. He plays a physical game that wears down his opposition, but won’t score too much.

Unless another player proves to be a better option, I expect Wags to hold that fourth line right wing role for the entirety of the 2021 season, while also slotting in on the PK at points.

Expectations: 53 games, seven goals, four assists, 11 points.