What better way to kick off your weekend than with another series of Bruins’ grades!? Today we’ll be taking a look at two more centers; Frank Vatrano and Riley Nash.
Frank Vatrano
Inside the regular season numbers: 10 goals, 8 assists, 18 points, -3
Inside the postseason numbers: 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point, -1
Grade: B-
Frank Vatrano just might be one of the Bruins most intriguing players. The second season of Vatrano’s NHL career saw some improvement, but not much. The second year center played 44 games, five more than his rookie season.
Despite the extra playing time, Vatrano only scored two more goals than in his rookie year. Vatrano has the capability to be an offensive power house, but he still needs to find his mojo at the NHL level. In his 38 career AHL games, he managed to score 38 goals and tallied 57 points.
Vatrano’s defensive play needs to be polished up a bit, but he was solid enough when the Bruins found themselves in their own zone. With the exception of the game tying goal in Game No. 1, Vatrano struggled mightily in the playoffs due to a left foot injury.
Riley Nash
Inside the regular season numbers: 7 goals, 10 assists, 17 points, -1
Inside the postseason numbers: 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points, +/- 0
Grade: B-
The Bruins aquired Riley Nash during free agency after spending his first five seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes.
Nash has never been known for his ability to light the lamp and struggled to find offensive consistency. Except for a few solid games late in the season, he was almost invisible on offense.
Nash’s defense was solid enough with a -1 on the season.
Nash did however provide some depth to the Bruins roster. This proved to be very beneficial down the stretch when the Bruins caught the injury bug.
Nash’s struggles continued into the postseason, but given that the entire roster struggled to score in the playoffs, it wouldn’t be fair to put all the blame on him.
