Now official — but first reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie — the Nashville Predators have acquired Brian Boyle in exchange for a second round pick in this summer’s draft.
The acquisition of Boyle would be General Manager David Poile’s first NHL-level trade of the 2018-19 season and comes just 20 days before the National Hockey League’s trade deadline on February 25.
“Brian Boyle, in our opinion, checks off a lot of the boxes in what this team needs right now,”Poile said during his press conference. “He’s versatile — he can play the wing and he plays center — he has the size and the physicality in his game that we’re looking for down the stretch and in the playoffs, he’s used to kill penalties and he’s been a net-front presence on the power play, hopefully something that will help benefit our power play. He provides leadership to our group, he’s in his 12th season in the National Hockey League, he’s already been to two Stanley Cup Finals and he’s played the third most playoff games in the League over the last five seasons.”
Boyle, 34, is a veteran center who’s statistics won’t wow you but does a lot of the little things right. He can be a big body in front of the net, something sorely lacking in Music City.
“I believe he has (six) goals this year — maybe (five) last year — on the power play,” Poile said. “That’s more than anybody on our team has.”
Filip Forsberg currently leads the Predators with five man advantage strikes.
He can also solidify the bottom six and be depended on to kill penalties, a glaring need for Nashville with the sudden, unexpected departure of Austin Watson into the NHL/NHLPA Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program.
Boyle was #7 on my Trade Deadline Big Board that I tweeted out yesterday and discussed on the Nashville Predators Pre-Game Show last night with host Darren McFarland.
My #TradeDeadline big board for #Preds:
1. M. Stone
2. A. Panarin*
3. W. Simmonds
4. J. Skinner
5. M. Duchene
6. M. Ferland
7. B. Boyle
8. B. Lovejoy
9. C. Kreider
10. G. Nyquist
11. J. Silfverberg
12. A. Martinez
13. R. Dzingel
14. M. Zuccarello
15. M. Hoffman— Jeremy K. Gover (@govertime) February 5, 2019
His 19 points slot him at ninth in scoring on a bad Devils team that currently sits at 20-25-7. He should see time on both special teams units with the Predators.
As The Athletic’s Corey Masisak points out, a lot of people will say a second round pick is too high a price for an aged veteran who doesn’t impact the scoresheet on a regular basis.
This might be obvious to say, but a second-round pick for #NJDevils for Brian Boyle, as reported by @TSNBobMcKenzie, is quite the return. Not many fourth-line wings who are pending UFAs are going to fetch a price like that. Boyle is a unique 4LW, and NSH paid a lot for him.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) February 6, 2019
He won the Bill Masterton Award last season and is still chasing a Stanley Cup despite having played 11 seasons in the NHL.