Bruins Sign Stempniak

The Boston Bruins have announced that they signed Forward Lee Stempniak to a one year deal. Stempniak has been skating with the Bruins almost all season but on a tryout basis and he recently had signed a PTO with Providence. During his time with the P-Bruins he has played in four games and registered four points.

Stempniak last played in the NHL in 2017-18 with the Hurricanes and spent most of the year on the IR. He played in 37 games and tallied three goals and six assists. Stempniak was with the Bruins back in 2016 as part of a deadline deal, he was able to notch three goals and seven assists in a 19 game stint with the B’s.

Now the question becomes is this it for the Bruins? There’s two schools of thought going around, the Stempniak signing could signal that the Sweeney asked around about rental forwards and found prices too high so he chose to sign the veteran as a deadline deal. Or. more optimistically, the Bruins are in the works to acquire somebody that wants a roster forward in return. So they could look at moving someone like Heinen, Cehlarik or even Kuhlman and Stempniak will fill that roster spot.

It seems to me this might be the only move the Bruins make, besides trading for Coyle. Hopefully they do address the need for a second line winger and go after the big guys like Stone, Simmonds or potentially even Hoffman.

The deadline is tomorrow at 3:00 PM Eastern. The Bruins next contest is Tuesday night at home against the Sharks. Hopefully Sweeney has more in mind than just Stempniak.

-Tyler Smith (@TylerSmith4386)