Boston Bruins: Should they make a move for defenseman Keith Yandle?

Should the Boston Bruins make a move to acquire veteran defenseman Keith Yandle from the Florida Panthers?

Recent reports have stated that the Florida Panthers do not see veteran defenseman Keith Yandle in their future plans. The Panthers even plan to healthy scratch the 34-year-old for their season open (whenever that’ll be), even though he hasn’t missed a game since the 2008-09 season. Should the Boston Bruins swoop in and grab him if the price is right?

Yandle signed his seven-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $6.35 million with the Cats back in June of 2016. It really comes as a surprise that Florida doesn’t want him anymore as he’s still one of the best in terms of production from the blue line at even strength and on the power play.

Over his 14 seasons in the NHL, Yandle has suited up for 976 games, registering 99 goals and 474 assists for 573 points. This is a 0.59 points per game pace.

Additionally, Yandle hasn’t scored less than 41 points in a season since 2008-09 (not counting the 48-game 2012-13 season). Last season, Yandle scored five goals and 40 assists for 45 points in 69 games. In each of the two seasons before, he recorded at least 55 points (one with 62). Altogether, Yandle has four seasons where he’s put up at least 50 points.

However, the issue with Yandle isn’t his offense, it’s his atrocious defense.

Even with averaging over 0.50 points per season over his career, Yandle has a career plus/minus (+/-) of -48. Furthermore, his career expected plus/minus (E+/-) is -35.6 (since they started keeping track of this stat in 2014-15).

With this noted, I think it would be smart for the Bruins to stay away from Yandle. Yes, he would be a nice replacement for Torey Krug on the power play, but they already have a viable replacement in Matt Grzelcyk. However, if Florida is willing to retain some salary, my mind may change.

Overall, the Panthers have no leverage in this situation. For the Cats to be able to trade Yandle, he would have to waive his no-movement clause (NMC). This means, Yandle gets to chose where Florida trades him. Because of this, the B’s might be able to swindle Florida into retaining salary while also trading just a late-round pick for the veteran blueliner.

However, as I said before, I think Boston should pass if this situation happens. The Bruins don’t need another offensive defenseman that can’t play defense. If anything, they are in the market for an experienced, left-shot defensive defenseman.