From now until the beginning of training camp, Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty is profiling players who will be on, or have a chance to be on, the 2015-16 Bruins. Today's player: Zac Rinaldo.
Adding Rinaldo, 25, was one of the most polarizing moves of the offseason for Don Sweeney and the Bruins. The former Philadelphia Flyers agitator has certainly made an infamous name for himself in the NHL with questionable hits, ill-timed penalties and a willingness to drop the gloves against much bigger and stronger opponents. He brings energy and intensity, and will throw his body around with the reckless abandon needed to be effective in a fourth line role. But these are traits that many players have in pro hockey – particularly those without enough skill to otherwise play in the NHL – and the B’s decision to give up a third-round pick for Rinaldo really isn’t a good example of asset management. It remains to be seen how positively or negatively this Rinaldo Experience will be viewed in Boston, and how much the fourth-line winger can bring to the B’s.
Twitter Handle: @RinaldoZac
What Happened Last Year: Rinaldo had a goal and six points in 58 games for the Flyers along with 102 penalty minutes, but it’s really not about the numbers with the 5-foot-11, 169-pounder. He was also suspended eight games in January for a vicious hit on Penguins defenseman Kris Letang, and then had to send out a tweet following the game clarifying that he hadn’t joked about hurting Letang in his postgame comments. Clearly, Rinaldo is what he is as a player, and that’s a fourth-line forward willing to set a tone with hits on the ice while very occasionally stepping over the line to make his point. He showed that last season and throughout his career. It’s highly unlikely there’s going to be any sea change in who Rinaldo is now that he’s in Black and Gold.
Questions To Be Answered This Season: Plenty. Can he possibly impact enough games to make the third-round pick sent to Philly for him worth it in the long run? Will Bruins fans embrace Rinaldo playing on the edge, and occasionally cannonballing way over that edge, after it seemed that Flyers fans had tired of the penalties, suspensions and his general modus operandi? Is he anything more than a hitting machine that will earn some suspensions, and generally be somebody that’s not very to fun play against for B’s opponents? Perhaps somebody like Rinaldo is exactly what the Bruins needed after they were more like a bunch of sweethearts to play against last season, when they failed to make the playoffs while playing that way. Still, it’s a difficult line for a player like Rinaldo to walk with the Bruins, and it’s clear the NHL is closely watching his handiwork after banging him with an unpaid eight-game vacation last season.
In Their Words: “"I’m bringing an energy — I’m bringing life every game, home and away. I’m going to be the rough, tough Zac Rinaldo, but I’m also going to add in more hockey sense. I’m going to be shooting the puck, I’m going to be blocking shots, I’m going to be creating more opportunity offensively, whether that be for myself or for my teammates — the little shot off the pad here and there can lead to a rebound to get a goal. The smart chip, the smart dump to get a good forecheck — it’s all going to tie into [helping] to win a hockey game." –Rinaldo, assuring all that he’ll help the Bruins win games while also referring to himself in the third person.
Overall Outlook: There has been talk about Rinaldo adjusting his game, his excellent skating speed and the chances he’ll get to perhaps kill some penalties with the Bruins. This is all well and good, but we’re really talking about a rough-around-the-edges player who has never managed more than eight goals or 17 points in a season at any stop in his junior, minor league or NHL career. Rinaldo has a very limited level of skill in the NHL when it comes to creating offense or impacting a game outside his hits, or his penalties. He'll be charged with helping bring the mean and nasty back to the Black and Gold and perhaps allow a guy like Brad Marchand to worry about scoring goals rather than agitating opponents. He’s a guy that’s amassed 572 penalty minutes in 223 career games over four NHL seasons and he’ll be that same guy in Boston. If he can be really impactful in that role then perhaps someday the Bruins will be forgiven for giving up a third-round pick for Rinaldo. But we’ll have to see it to believe it.