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Skepticism grows as Bruins acquire Zac Rinaldo
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In this day in age, a fourth line pest like Zac Rinaldo is worth a third round draft pick in the National Hockey League.
Let’s rephrase that sentence a little bit: in this day in age, a fourth line pest like Zac Rinaldo is worth a third round draft pick according to the Boston Bruins.
Just a few days after new GM Don Sweeney, President Cam Neely and the rest of the front office created chaos with the trades of Milan Lucic, Dougie Hamilton and their selections at 13-15 at Friday’s first round of the Entry Draft, the Bruins announced the acquisition of Rinaldo in exchange for a 2017 third round pick.
Rinaldo has two years left on his current deal worth $850,000 according to General Fanager. For a team that is still in salary cap hell — and didn’t manage to make their situation better even after Friday’s deals — their return on investment isn’t getting any better with this addition.
Since trading Hamilton, the Bruins have added $6.3 million in salary between Lucic retention, Adam McQuaid, and Zac Rinaldo.
— Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) June 29, 2015
In 223 career games with the Flyers, the 2008 sixth round pick notched a grand total of 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists) to go along with 572 penalty minutes and a history of suspensions that would even make NFL Comissioner Roger Goodell cringe.
Rinaldo was suspended eight games last season for boarding Kris Letang in a game against the Penguins in January.
The 25-year old forward had six points on a goal and five assists along with 102 penalty minutes in 52 games played in 2014-15. Compare that to goalie Ben Bishop, who backstopped the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Stanley Cup Final, who had four points — all assists. Not exactly a good sign for any forward who only has two more points than a goaltender, even if he had the most points among netminders last season.
After the latest acquisition, The Hub of Hockey is still confused over what Sweeney’s plan is about. At this point, they are closer to tanking and returning to irrelevancy in a passionate sports city.
Maybe there’s more to come, but after these last few days, it’s hard to envision the Bruins getting any better for the 2015-16 season.
WTF. I thought the NHL was trying to get rid of this stuff. Rinaldo plays way over the edge. The Bruins had a great enforcer in Shawn Thorton. Really?