Depending on what happens at the NHL trade deadline in a couple of months, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney will have some key decisions when it comes to free agents in July. On Sunday morning, he made one decision off his plate in terms of upcoming free agents.
Boston announced that it signed defenseman Jonathan Aspirot to a two-year contract extension with an AAV of $887,500. It has been a journey, to say the least, for the 26-year-old who spent the last six years wondering if he was ever going to make the NHL.
“It means everything. I’m super-excited to have signed that deal with Boston. I’m super happy and excited,” said Aspirot. “It happened pretty quickly. I couldn’t say no to a deal like that. I just tried to stick to my game. They saw something when we signed last summer. I’ve been just trying to keep it to my strength and play as hard as I can every night.''
First-year head coach Marco Sturm was happy for his blueliner, and he believes he's taking advantage of the opportunity with the Black and Gold.
“He took advantage of the opportunity, the opportunity of a new coach coming in and the new system we play. I think it just fit him perfectly. I think that’s why he rewarded himself with a two-year deal,” said Sturm. “I’m just very happy. He’s become a pleasant surprise for this hockey team. We know it, the players know it and I’m glad we locked him up for two more years.”
Bruins play without Morgan Geekie vs. Penguins
In the Bruins' 10-2 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden, the Bruins' leading goal-scorer, Morgan Geekie, exited the game due to a personal matter. After the game, his status for the game against Pittsburgh was not known. Before the puck drop, Sturm gave an update on Geekie's status, and he ended up missing the 1-0 win.
"Before everyone starts, Geeks will be out due to a family matter,'' said Sturm. "Like I said yesterday, everything is fine, but we respect his privacy, and unfortunately, he's going to miss tonight's game."
Here's hoping everything is OK for Morgan and his family.
Pavel Zacha happy to get his hat trick out of the way
It was a little surprising that Pavel Zacha's hat trick on Saturday was the first of his career. It took 672 games for him to net three goals in a game, but given the feeling he had after the game, it was worth it.
“It took longer than I thought it would,” said Zacha. “I’m just trying to play a two-way game and today when I scored two in the first period and I knew there was a chance to score again. Our line was going really good — I was happy it went in and I got a hat trick.”