The Boston Bruins have signed another forward to their roster in the first few weeks of NHL free agency.
The B's announced Wednesday the signing of center Jesper Boqvist to a one-year, one-way contract with a salary cap hit of $775,000. He'll be a restricted free agent when the deal expires.
Boqvist played 70 games for the New Jersey Devils last season and scored 10 goals with 11 assists. He tallied 10 goals and 13 assists in 56 games for the Devils in 2021-22. Boqvist fared poorly on faceoffs last season (33.2 win percentage), but he is skilled and strong enough to play center. He can also play on the wing. Some of his defensive metrics were impressive in 2022-23, so there's some two-way upside with this signing.
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Boqvist has shown flashes of exciting potential but hasn't put it together on a consistent basis at the NHL level yet. Given his talent and age (24), it's worth it for the Bruins to bet on a breakout year from Boqvist, especially at a salary cap hit below $1 million. The Bruins will need all the center depth they can get if Patrice Bergeron and/or David Krejci retire.
The Bruins took a chance on another Devils player, Pavel Zacha, in a trade last summer. Will they have similar success with Boqvist? Time will tell.
The Bruins have just $5.43 million in cap space remaining, per CapFriendly. They still need to sign Trent Frederic (RFA), Jeremy Swayman (RFA) and maybe Bergeron (UFA) before next season.
More Bruins coverage
Here's an updated lineup projection for the Bruins' forwards at this stage of the offseason.
Forwards
Brad Marchand--Charlie Coyle--Jake DeBrusk
James van Riemsdyk--Pavel Zacha--David Pastrnak
Jakub Lauko--Trent Frederic--Morgan Geekie
Milan Lucic--Patrick Brown--A.J. Greer
Other options: Marc McLaughlin, Fabian Lysell, Johnny Beecher, Georgii Merkulov, Jesper Boqvist
