Moving on, all of them.
(Editor’s note: We’re getting awfully close to the start of a new season, so it makes less and less sense to talk about last year. With that in mind, we’ll be combining some of these player ratings to save time, while still giving you some space to discuss each player.)
As we kick off our “you procrastinated all summer, now look what you’ve done” packaged player ratings, we start with three departed defensemen!
Derek Forbort’s 2023-2024 rating: 4
- GP: 35
- Stats: 0G-4A-4PTS
- ATOI: 17:48
- PK TOI/GP: 3 minutes
- Status: Signed a one-year deal with Vancouver
When the Bruins signed Derek Forbort in the summer of 2021, he was brought to town to block shots, add some physicality, and eat minutes on the penalty kill.
As his Bruins tenure comes to an end, it’s fair to say that for the most part, he filled each of those roles fairly well.
Forbort was far from flashy, but that’s not what the Bruins needed him to be.
In 35 regular season games, Forbort skated more than 105 minutes on the penalty kill.
While the acquisition of Andrew Peeke gave the Bruins options in that role, Jim Montgomery still thought highly enough of Forbort to stick him back in for parts of the Florida series, just a couple of months after a surgery that was supposed to end his season.
A series of injuries made Forbort more of a fringe player last season, but he was relatively fine during his time with the B’s.
After the season, the time was right for both sides to move on — and Forbort will now take his non-fancy (and I don’t mean that as an insult) style to Vancouver.
Matt Grzelcyk’s 2023-2024 rating: 3.4
- GP: 63
- Stats: 2G-9A-11PTS
- ATOI: 17:36
- Status: Signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh
For a guy who has had a storybook-type career to this point, this certainly isn’t the way his time with the Bruins was supposed to end.
Matt Grzelcyk grew up within shouting distance of TD Garden, played his college hockey just a few miles up the road, and then spent eight largely positive years with his hometown team.
Then…last year happened, and things kind of fell off a cliff. As the 2024 offseason began, it was clear that Grzelcyk had played his last game with the B’s.
At his best, Grzelcyk was a mobile, fun-to-watch defenseman who, for a stretch, was part of an elite tandem with Charlie McAvoy.
Last season, he struggled to recapture those parts of his game that made him most effective, and his overall game declined as a result.
Grzelcyk’s even strength CF% was the worst of his NHL career at 45.1%. He struggled to get pucks on net on the offensive end and saw his PP time dwindle even further than it had the previous season.
It’s important to point out that Grzelcyk was hampered by injuries all season, including some time spent on LTIR.
It’s fair to wonder if those injuries hampered his mobility, a key aspect of his game; if that’s gone, the wheels are going to start to fall off.
Ultimately, Grzelcyk ended up being a healthy scratch for the majority of the Bruins’ playoff run, edged out by other options.
There was clearly no room at the inn for the Charlestown kid this year, and he’ll now ply his trade in a different kind of black and gold.
Overall, Grzelcyk will be remembered fondly as a Bruins; however, last season was a tough way to go out, as his 3.4 SCOC rating was the lowest of the summer.
Kevin Shattenkirk’s 2023-2024 rating: 5.3
- GP: 61
- Stats: 6G-18A-24PTS
- ATOI: 15:47
- Status: Still looking for a team
Part of Don Sweeney’s bargain summer of 2023, Kevin Shattenkirk was brought to Boston to provide defensive depth, some power play production, and some leadership.
He achieved just about all of those goals last season, and I think his final rating of 5.3 is a little on the low side.
Shattenkirk had a pretty productive season offensively, garnering 0.39 points per game during the regular season.
His vision and ability to get pucks through to the net on the power play paid dividends, as he recorded 11 (2G-9A) of his 24 points on the man advantage.
Brad Marchand credited Shattenkirk with an inspiring speech prior to Game 7 against Toronto, illustrating his leadership abilities and willingness to speak up.
Signed for slightly above the league minimum, Shattenkirk wasn’t a minute-eater or a PK workhorse — but that’s not what the Bruins needed him to be.
The veteran found himself in and out of the lineup during the playoffs, with the aforementioned Game 7 triumph against Toronto his last game as a Bruin.
Overall, he was a good bargain signing by the B’s, but it’s understandable why he wasn’t retained at season’s end.
Shattenkirk is 35 and sits just 48 games shy of 1,000 career regular season games played.
He’s without a team at the moment, but probably still has enough in the tank to latch on somewhere, even if it’s on a PTO.