Boston Bruins fans had reason to enjoy the Alex Steeves story when he first arrived. He cracked the roster, the jokes started flying about Boston landing another impact piece from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Don Sweeney only added to the buzz by locking him up with a two-year contract extension. At the time, it looked like a move designed to stay ahead of a possible breakout after Steeves opened with eight goals and six assists in his first three months.
That optimism didn’t last.
Once the extension was in place, Steeves managed only one goal and one assist over 10 regular-season games. He then gave Boston next to nothing in two playoff games against the Buffalo Sabres. Even more damaging was the timing of the deal itself: it came in late January, and from that point on he was a healthy scratch in 22 of the final 32 games, including a nine-game stretch when the Bruins were battling for their playoff lives.
Training camp offered him another opening, but he didn’t do enough to win his spot back. Dans Locmelis and Riley Duran both outlasted him in Boston, with Steeves and Lukas Reichel sent to Providence on Saturday before those two prospects were the final forward cuts made on Sunday.
That doesn’t shut the door on Steeves entirely. If injuries hit, he could still be the first forward called up, and there is less than a 0% chance this is the last time he appears with the Bruins. Still, the order of the cuts suggests he’s already behind some other options, especially with one more forward needing to head back to Providence once Matthew Poitras returns from injury, assuming no trades get in the way.
The one part of the extension that doesn’t sting is the price tag. The average annual value is tiny in the current cap environment, though Boston’s salary cap is still responsible for $400,000 while he’s in the AHL. Even so, the Bruins should have enough flexibility to make the moves they need.
What lingers most is the hit to trust in Sweeney’s judgment. The Bruins’ front office has a clear soft spot for bottom-six forwards, and this was a move that never really fit the bigger picture. Steeves may help Providence put together a strong season, just as he did before joining Boston last year, but that alone hardly justified signing him when they did.
In the end, the Bruins tried to get ahead of the curve. Instead, they ended up making one of their more obvious misfires of the past few seasons.
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DiPietro took advantage of it in camp and preseason, where he put together the kind of showing that made the backup picture more interesting than it has been in a while. For a Bruins team looking to sort out the goal crease after last springs disappointment, having a second goaltender who earned the job on merit gives the season a little more stability, even if the long-term questions around the position are still very much part of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]