The Bruins are betting that a familiar dose of edge can help wake up a defense that needs more bite.
Connor Clifton is back in Boston after stops with the Sabres and Penguins, signing a two-year deal with a $2.25 million cap hit. For a team that has missed the playoffs or gone out in the first round in each of the last two seasons, the appeal is obvious: bring back a player who knows how to stir things up.
Clifton spent his first five NHL seasons with the Bruins after arriving in Providence in 2017 and later signing an entry-level deal in 2018. The New Jersey native, who made the ECAC All-Tournament Team at Quinnipiac, settled into a regular role on Boston’s third defense pair and built a reputation as a disruptive presence.
His numbers in Boston show both the production and the physical edge. Clifton posted 10 goals and 33 assists over those five seasons, then turned in a career-best 23 points in 2022-23 while leading the Bruins with 208 hits. He also led the Penguins with 180 hits last season.
That style is exactly what Clifton says keeps him in the league.
“I think I made it to the league playing that way, and I think I stay in the league playing that way,” said Clifton via The Boston Globe. “As you mature, get older, maybe you pick your spots a little bit more - you don’t want to miss and give up a chance, right? You never want that.”
Boston finished sixth in hits per 60 last season at 22.37, but the roster still had room for more consistent physical play beyond Nikita Zadorov, who led the club with 196 hits. Clifton should immediately help in that department.
“Cliffy Hockey” was also a real thing in the playoffs, where he chipped in six assists and 10 points for Boston along with plenty of penalty minutes. Now he returns to a franchise that wants to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
“It’s a very different team than when I was there,” Clifton said via NHL.com. “I think it is six guys who are the same.
That’s a small number in three years. But I feel like Bruins hockey hasn’t changed much since I left.
“Every time we came to the Garden, it was just a battle of a matchup, usually low scoring. It is a gritty group of guys.
They play so hard, structured in the D-zone. That is kind of the style I have played my best hockey - was in Boston.”
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