No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. This is an in-season edition of obscure former Boston Bruins. The last one I did was back in September when I wrote about Malcolm Subban. This player is an interesting case, and it’s forward Ryan Spooner.
Ryan Spooner is a forward who was chosen in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft by the Bruins from the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He signed an entry-level contract with the team ahead of the 2011-2012 season and made his debut in 2012-2013 with a four game cup of coffee.
He had a 23 game showing the following season, racking up 11 points, all on assists. In 2014-2015, he finally got his first NHL goal in the midst of an eight goal, 10 assist season in 29 games.
Spooner broke out in 2015-2016, scoring 13 goals with 36 assists in 80 games in what was otherwise a down year for the team. The following year, he had 11 goals and 28 assists for 39 points in 78 games, adding on two assists in four games in the postseason.
The 2017-2018 season saw Spooner put up nine goals and 16 assists for the Bruins before he was dealt to the New York Rangers along with Ryan Lindgren, Matt Beleskey, and draft picks that became Jacob Bernard-Docker and Massimo Rizzo to bring Rick Nash to Boston. He had four goals and 12 assists down the stretch for the Rangers.
After signing a two-year contract prior to 2018-2019, Spooner was traded by the Rangers to the Edmonton Oilers just 16 games into the year for Ryan Strome. He had two goals and an assist in 25 games with Edmonton before he was traded again a few months later, going to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Sam Gagner.
Spooner had four assists and no goals in 11 games before the Canucks bought out his contract after the season ended. A free agent, Spooner left for Russia, where he signed with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL.
In the KHL, Spooner has seemingly revitalized his career. He had 37 points in 2019-2020, 39 points in 2020-2021, and 34 points in 2021-2022. With Dinamo Minsk in 2022-2023, Spooner put up 19 goals and 28 assists for 47 points in the regular season before adding five points in the playoffs.
So far this season, Ryan Spooner has 13 goals and 25 assists through 32 games for Avangard Omsk, serving just two penalty minutes while averaging over a point per game.
With his contract set to expire at the end of the season, it’s not unrealistic to imagine Spooner drawing interest from NHL teams again when the NHL season comes to a close in the summer. I hope he makes his way back, because he’s been performing at a ridiculous level this year.