Bruins sign Craig Smith to three-year, $9.3M deal

The Bruins have added some secondary scoring, announcing the signing of winger Craig Smith to a three-year contract.  The deal carries a cap hit of $3.1M, a drop from his previous $4.25M AAV.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the contract breaks down as follows:

2020-21: $2M
2021-22: $3M
2022-23: $4.3M

The 31-year-old is coming off a bit of a quieter season offensively, but he still managed to put up 18 goals and 13 assists in 69 regular-season games despite playing less than 14 minutes per game.  Prior to this contract, Smith had spent the entirety of his nine-year NHL career with the Predators, playing in 661 games.

The Bruins have long been on the hunt to add secondary scoring, and Smith should be a strong fit in that role.  Despite the dip in point production in 2019-20, he has reached 18 goals in six of his last seven seasons, eclipsing the 20-goal mark in five of those.  For context, only three Boston players hit 20 goals a year ago in Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, and Brad Marchand.  Smith should settle in on either the second or third line and give the Brruins another offensive boost beyond their top trio.

Smith checked in at 18th in our Top-50 UFA rankings with his deal coming in a bit lower than our projection of three years and $11M.