While it wasn’t a super big money deal that is bringing Connor Clifton back to Boston, it feels like the Bruins are bringing back the likeable, hard-to-play-against Clifton to be one of their bottom-pair fixtures.
The two-year, $4.5 million deal puts him in that bottom-pair neighborhood salary- and cap-hit-wise, and it will add another player that’s willing to mix it up physically, calm things down defensively, and sprinkle in a little offense here and there. It was a fairly easy decision to walk away from Clifton when he was signed to a big-money deal (three years, $10 million) by the Buffalo Sabres, which he struggled to live up to in Buffalo, and then when he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins last season.
Clifton ended up with his lowest point total in six full NHL seasons while playing with the Penguins and was scratched for a whopping 32 games in Pittsburgh, but the 31-year-old did become more of a regular in the second half of the season while persevering through the hard times.
“When I first got to Buffalo, I think everything was so different structurally, so I struggled really early on in Buffalo,” said Clifton. “I eventually figured [it] out, played some good hockey, ended my first season. And then second season was okay in Buffalo. I ended up getting traded to [Pittsburgh], so new opportunity there. Last year, I mean, as a whole, it was a pretty poor season for me. I mean, from a points standpoint, from a games played standpoint, but I do think there was a lot of perseverance on the way.”
If he can get anywhere close to the guy that finished with five goals and 23 points along with 60 penalty minutes in his last season in Boston, however, he’ll do very nicely in a rough-and-tumble pairing with Nikita Zadorov that could be a real strength for this Bruins team as a bottom pair on the back end.
“I think Connor remains confident. He spoke about a little bit when I touched base with him, you know, publicly he said, you know, the confidence maybe comes and goes, when you’re out of the lineup just a little bit, so that was a challenge for him as he was through Buffalo and Pittsburgh, but we know Connor’s game,” said Don Sweeney. “We know how comfortable [he is] to be walking back into our locker room to contribute there on and off the ice, the competitive nature of the player hasn’t changed at all, and he brings an energy that our group is going to appreciate.”
The 31-year-old Clifton will also certainly be able to play top 4 minutes in a pinch as well should injuries hit Boston’s back end, and if the Bruins end up moving Mason Lohrei and/or Henri Jokiharju as is expected at some point during the year. But that is where Clifton has run into challenges in the past when the Bruins have needed him to play higher up in the lineup and created a rough last moment for him in a Bruins uniform when he struggled big time (minus-3) in a wild Game 6 7-5 playoff loss against the Florida Panthers.
The Black and Gold clearly know that headed into a couple more season of “Cliffy Hockey” where he will stand up for his teammates and be an annoyance to the other team’s best players when they are on the ice together.
In many ways, the return of Clifton will be the defenseman version of Sean Kuraly coming back to Boston a year ago, and that ended up being a positive development on and off the ice for a Bruins team that was greater than the sum of their parts thanks to the makeup of the group.
*Some really interesting dates on the Bruins regular season schedule, including the
