It was a very under-the-radar signing that was sadly buried on a summer Friday afternoon but yesterday, the Bruins signed one of their few promising young forwards to a two-year contract extension. 23-year-old Trent Frederic's new deal will cost the team an annual cap hit of just $1.05 million dollars. That is a relative bargain for a guy that is a former first-round draft pick (29th overall in 2016) who made an immediate impact in his first full NHL season (2021) before tailing off near the end of the regular season and being a healthy scratch for all 11 playoff games against the Capitals and Islanders. While it's hard to explain how he didn't appear in a single postseason contest against two big and tough teams like Washington and New York, I am sure that Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy sat Frederic for a specific reason(s).
In 42 games last season with the black and gold, Frederic had four goals and an assist along with 65 penalty minutes. As you can guess from those modest offensive numbers, he probably will never be on Boston's top line but nevertheless, he can definitely play a key role as many of the Bruins older veteran forwards eventually start to phase out from the club. Freddy isn't afraid of anyone in the NHL: the picture above shows him chirping with Devils defenseman P.K. Subban while he also famously went after Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin. The key for Frederic like many other young players in the league that play with a physical edge is to not cross the line too often. He had a tendency to take some dumb penalties when other teams started to take notice of him and go after the University of Wisconsin product both physically and verbally.
The NHL is not nearly as physical as it once was and likewise, the Bruins who were always known for their toughness these days have very few guys that you would consider legitimate tough guys. Trent could be different and a bit of a throwback (that B's fans already have started to fall in love with) because he has the stick skills of a first-round draft pick but the grinding style of a third or fourth-line forward that's a fringe player in the league. I'm certainly not anointing him the next Cam Neely or anything but there is no reason why his ceiling couldn't be something like a Milan Lucic: a big (6-foot-2, 230 pounds), left shot forward that is not afraid to drop the gloves or go to the net to knock in loose pucks. He seems very likable and a good teammate so with some more seasoning at the highest level, hopefully he continues to take the next steps to embrace a much bigger role on the Bruins.
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