Sean Kuraly’s first season back in Boston ended up looking a lot better than the Bruins probably hoped when they brought him in.
Boston didn’t spend big when free agency opened last summer. Instead, Don Sweeney made a quieter move just before the market opened, landing Viktor Arvidsson from the Edmonton Oilers.
That deal gave Marco Sturm a real jolt on the second line, where Arvidsson joined Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittlestadt and helped turn that group into one of the NHL’s better second lines last season. They also delivered in the first-round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres.
Then there was Kuraly, a former Bruins bottom-six forward who came back on a two-year deal worth $3.7 million, with an average annual value of $1.85 million. He fit right into the role Boston wanted him to fill.
Kuraly helped lock down the fourth line alongside Tanner Jeannot and a rotating cast of wings on the other side. That unit was hard to play against, which was exactly the point for Sweeney and the front office.
The numbers backed it up, too. Kuraly finished with six goals and 16 assists while averaging 13:20 per night.
He also played all 82 games for the second straight season, after doing the same with the Columbus Blue Jackets the year before. His goal total matched his previous mark, and he added five more assists in Boston.
His best offensive season still came in 2021-22 with Columbus, when he posted 14 goals and 16 assists.
In the playoffs, Kuraly chipped in a goal and an assist during Boston’s six-game loss to Buffalo. He picked up an assist in Game 2 in Western New York as the Bruins tied the series, then scored his lone goal of the series on a shorthanded chance in Game 4 at TD Garden. He averaged 12:39 across the six games.
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