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Boston Bruins Ink Trent Frederic To A Two-Year Deal

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Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins have begun ticking off their offseason checklist by signing young power forward Trent Frederic to a two-year contract for $1.05 million per season.

The 23-year-old Frederic finished with four goals and five points in 42 games for the Bruins last season in his first full NHL campaign but didn’t appear in the playoffs while seeming to fall out of favor down the stretch. The 6-foot-2, 204-pound Frederic certainly made an impact when he was in the lineup bringing physicality and nastiness that ended in fisticuffs on more than one occasion, including a solid bout with Tom Wilson after he’d messed with Alex Ovechkin one too many times.

Frederic also finished with a minus-8 rating, though, and clearly has some work to do with his two-way game along with providing even more secondary offense as a former first-round pick. But there’s no doubting that Frederic became something of a fan favorite with his fearless style while getting directly in the faces of Bruins’ opponents throughout the season.

Once the Boston Bruins dealt for Curtis Lazar at the deadline, though, there wasn’t a regular spot in the NHL line for Frederic with Sean Kuraly, Chris Wagner, and Lazar getting regular shifts as the de facto energy line.

It also feels like Frederic is being primed as a big-bodied fourth-line replacement for Sean Kuraly, who is approaching unrestricted free agency and is unlikely to be resigned by the Black and Gold with Frederic serving as a younger, cheaper, and more physical option for a revamped energy line.

It’s interesting times for Frederic with the NHL expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken just around the corner, and the youngster on the bubble to be protected by the Bruins along with fellow forwards like Nick Ritchie and Jake DeBrusk. The two-year contract at a good salary cap number makes Frederic even more valuable to the Bruins while Ritchie remains unsigned to this point as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent definitely due for a raise on his next deal.

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