When the 2024-25 season finally ended for the Boston Bruins, there were questions as to who general manager Don Sweeney was going to bring back and who he was going to let walk in free agency.
There were a lot of decisions as to which way Sweeney was going to address free agency. In the end, he added a lot of depth to the bottom-six and remade what it looked like. That made it even more eye-opening that Boston brought back center John Beecher.
Over the last couple of seasons, Beecher had been a fourth-line forward and one of Boston's better face-off pivots. He also has been a good penalty-killer, but with all the additions that were made, it was hard to envision where he would fit in first-year coach Marco Sturm's lineup when all was said and done.
On Monday, the Bruins placed Beecher on waivers for assignment to the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL). He'll never make it there after he was claimed on Tuesday.
Calgary Flames claim Bruins forward John Beecher
Not a lot of people thought that Beecher was going to get claimed, but that wasn't the case. The worst team in the league, the Calgary Flames, claimed him, according to Elliotte Friedman, and will bring him in. Sitting at the bottom of the NHL standings at 5-12-3 with 13 points, the Flames' claiming him is not all that surprising given where they are.
Beecher gets a fresh start and can be an every-night player for Calgary. This year, in six games with the Black and Gold, with one goal. He has 11 goals and 22 points in 136 career games with Boston. The 2019 first-round pick, 30th overall, last played for the Bruins on Nov. 6 at home in an overtime win over the Ottawa Senators. The only goal he scored was in October against the Colorado Avalanche on the road, in a 4-1 Boston loss.
Beecher being placed on waivers was risky, now it is even more of a head-scratching move with the injuries mounting in recent games.