With NHL training camps slated to open up across North America as early as Thursday for several clubs, the race is on for a still sizable pool of free agents to find a home before full rosters hit the ice.
Given the numerous question marks surrounding the left side of the Bruins' D corps, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise if Don Sweeney and Co. were perusing through the crop of available blueliners in search of some stability — especially given that there is still no clarity on Zdeno Chara's future, whether it be in Boston or potentially elsewhere for the 2021 season.
Even though the Bruins missed out on some of the more established left-shot D that were available when the free-agent feeding frenzy commenced back in October (T. J. Brodie, Erik Gustafsson), there still are a couple of serviceable — if not intriguing — options available that could ease some of the worries about a Bruins defense that might poised to rely heavily on 23-and-under products like Jeremy Lauzon, Jakub Zboril and Urho Vaakanainen in the coming months.
One name that has been linked to the Bruins is Ben Hutton, with David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reporting that Boston remains as one of the teams interested in the left-shot D in what stands as the final stretch of the 2020 offseason.
Hutton, a University of Maine product (2012-15), has still yet to be scooped up by a team after appearing in 65 games with the Kings during the 2019-20 campaign — recording 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) while averaging 18:16 of ice time. The 6-foot-2, 206-pound skater spent the previous four seasons of his NHL career with the Canucks, posting 70 points in 276 games out in Vancouver.
The 27-year-old Hutton hasn't had much luck when it comes to skating on successful clubs during his five years up in the NHL ranks, with both the Canucks and Kings failing to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs during any of those seasons in which Hutton patrolled the blue line. As is the case for most players saddled on poor clubs, it can tough to size up a skater like Hutton, given that a glance at the underlying numbers for most Canucks from 2015-19 don't exactly paint a rosy picture of said individual.
And yet, as much as Hutton struggled to gain traction during his four years with the Canucks, the numbers following a promising campaign out in L.A. might make Hutton an intriguing target for the Bruins — at least in terms of a viable depth option on a defense loaded with question marks.
As dreadful as the 2019-20 Kings were, Hutton served as one of the few bright spots on a roster that was outscored, 100-78, with him off the ice during 5v5 play. Despite the fact that just 47.58% of Hutton's faceoffs during 5v5 play came in the offensive zone (in contrast to Torey Krug, with 71.04% of his faceoffs set in the O-zone), the Kings actually managed to tilt the ice in their favor when Hutton was out on a shift — outscoring opponents, 43-40, during his 1060:18 of 5v5 ice time.
Those numbers also translate to Hutton's play against “Elite” competition — described by Puck IQ as players with:
Points/60 > 2.21
Time on ice per game > 75th percentile
Relative Corsi > 40th percentile
Relative Dangerous Fenwick > 40th percentile
In the 312 minutes that Hutton faced off against these "elite" skaters, L.A. still managed to outscore the competition, 11-10 — no easy feat, given the dearth of talent on that Kings roster. But Hutton also managed to establish himself as a solid contributor down the other end of the ice as well during his lone season in Cali.
Among the 99 NHL defensemen that logged at least 1,000 minutes of 5v5 ice time last season, Hutton held the fifth-best shot share at 55.80%. In other words, despite the lack of favorable O-zone ice, the Kings still managed to hold an 1,160-919 edge in shot attempts against opponents during Hutton's 1060:18 of action. Given how much Bruce Cassidy plans to stress more offense from the blue line in 2021, Hutton could offer some value, at least based on the production he generated last season with the Kings.
When factoring in that O-zone faceoff percentage of 47.58, the fact that Hutton managed to rank 42nd out of that pool of 99 NHL defensemen in 5v5 points per 60 minutes at 0.91 is pretty impressive — ranking higher than other noteworthy names such as Mikhail Sergachev (0.90), Drew Doughty (0.75), Noah Hanifin (0.70) and Ivan Provorov (0.59).
Among those 99 defensemen taxed with heavy minutes last season, Hutton found in solid standing in many other offensive metrics, including:
21st in individual shots per 60 minutes (6.17)
16th in individual high-danger scoring chances per 60 minutes (0.68)
6th in individual rebounds created per 60 minutes (0.96)
Not too shabby. You factor in that Hutton was also a steady contributor on an otherwise woeful Kings penalty kill (he was 31st in shots against per 60 minutes, 54th in goals against per 60 minutes - right behind Brandon Carlo at 53rd overall), and perhaps one could envision a scenario in which Hutton is a solid addition to an otherwise uneven Bruins D corps.
Of course, that involves Boston hoping it gets Kings Ben Hutton and not Canucks Ben Hutton, with the larger sample size in Vancouver painting the picture of a replacement-level skater that Boston could likely find within its own pipeline in 2021. And even if Chara doesn't return to Boston, you could make the case that a player like Hutton doesn't move the needle far enough to warrant pushing a youngster like Zboril, Lauzon or Vaakanainen further down the depth chart.
But if the situation presents itself in which Chara does not return, perhaps a player like Hutton offers — in the very least — a safety net for a team that could be felled if unproven players like Lauzon or Zboril can't hold their own in 2021.
Hoffman signs with St. Louis
One free-agent target linked to the Bruins for months is now likely off the board — as Mike Hoffman inked a professional tryout (PTO) contract with the Blues on Sunday evening.
Now that we're less than a week from all 31 NHL training camps getting underway, don't be surprised to see a number of UFAs sign similar PTO deals in order to get back on the ice and put themselves in a position to land a starting gig during this COVID-impacted campaign. But such a fate wasn't expected to befall a skater like Hoffman, who was previously expected to cash in big this offseason after tallying 20+ goals in six seasons with the Senators and Panthers.
There was a ... colorful ... deluge of reactions on Twitter Sunday night from Bruins fans — especially those who dreamt of a scenario in which Boston shored up its forward corps by signing a top-six winger like Hoffman to a bargain deal this winter. And yes, while the optics of Hoffman signing a "tryout" deal with St. Louis might get some B's fans hot under the collar, this seems like more cap gymnastics on the part of St. Louis rather than a case of no teams, including the Bruins, wanting to toss out any money at a proven sniper like Hoffman.
As the fine folks at CapFriendly point out, the Blues are already close to $1.2 million over the salary cap upper limit of $81.5 million — and still need to sign RFA Vince Dunn to a new contract. So, with St. Louis waiting to put both Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen on Long-Term Injured Reserve at the start of the regular season, the Blues very well could have a contract in place with Hoffman, but the winger won't officially sign it until the start of the season — when those LTIR designations allow the Blues to exceed that $81.5 million limit.
Now, if Hoffman signs a contract on or around Jan. 13 and it's still at a bargain price, then Bruins fans might still be steamed that Boston didn't offer a contract of similar value. But if we're looking at something more in the $4-5 million AAV range, then the B's did a good job of steering clear here.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, HockeyViz and Puck IQ.