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The Boston Bruins, and everyone else for that matter, have made their pitch to Jimmy Vesey.
Now, they wait.
In their Wednesday meeting with the Vesey camp at the club’s new practice facility in Brighton, Mass., the Bruins pitched Vesey as an obvious fit on a line with B’s center
David Krejci. And Krejci, who finished last year with 17 goals and 63 points in 72 games, could be in the market for a new winger with
Loui Eriksson out of town for a big payday with the Vancouver Canucks, too. And given Brad Marchand’s fit next to Patrice Bergeron on Boston’s first line, having Krejci, a player who has posted four seasons of 46 assists or more, feed him the puck, might be the 23-year-old Vesey’s best bet to make noise (at least in Boston) en route to a cash-in on his second NHL contract.
As explained before, though, Vesey could have such an opportunity with almost any center in almost any city, namely in Buffalo to Jack Eichel’s left, in Toronto next to Auston Matthews, for the New York Islanders next to team captain John Tavares, or for the league’s modern era dynasty Chicago Blackhawks next to Jonathan Toews or on Patrick Kane’s opposite wing. The list goes on, too.
But one source did indicate to HockeyBuzz.com that the B’s meeting with Vesey went very well. Then again, I haven’t read one report of a meeting with Vesey going poorly. How is that possible? How was one source not come out and just said, “Oh, it was a total disaster. Somebody spilled coffee on his agent. They kept calling him Jimbo as if they’re close. There was a weird moment where Jimmy went for a handshake and the assistant general manager went for a fistbump. Just a total disaster.”
At the same time, it’s been noted that Vesey does have concerns about Boston. He wonders how he’d fit into the Boston power play mix -- and who wouldn’t after a year in which the Bruins finished 7th in the NHL in power-play efficiency, at 20.5% -- especially given the way head coach
Claude Julien has traditionally handled young players’ time on ice on the man advantage. Some have hinted that Vesey did not get a ringing endorsement on the Bruins from the Hayes family after the way Jimmy Hayes (Dorchester, Mass.), who struggled mightily in his first year in town, was treated.
Again, these are mere mumblings and could be totally false. Hell, it could be as true as the assistant general manager going for a fistbump. Read as: Completely, totally bogus. But who knows anything?
It’s believed a decision could come Friday, and that the Bruins are still in the running.
It’s interesting the way this whole thing has been spun. If Vesey signs with the Bruins, he’s the local hero that’s gonna live a childhood dream. If he opts to sign anywhere else, he’s a coward that’s too afraid of struggling in his hometown and having to answer to everyone he’s ever known as to why.
That’s not necessarily fair.
Think about it this way: If Vesey was from anywhere outside of New England, would Don Sweeney and the Bruins have even got that meeting with his camp? The answer is that they would have been given the Detroit Red Wings treatment. Maybe even the Carolina Hurricanes treatment for that matter, actually. Ever made a call and had it go to voicemail after two rings? Yeah, it’s something like that.
The only reason the Bruins have made it this far was location. It’s a distinct advantage, especially when he’s told other teams no because they’re not close enough to said location. It can’t suddenly become a disadvantage if the Bruins don’t get their way with the 6-foot-1 winger. That dog don’t hunt.
The Hayes Theory, as ridiculous as it is, is not even applicable to Vesey, either. Hayes was traded to Boston for Reilly Smith, a player that has the unfortunate of finding himself linked to the Tyler Seguin trade, which makes Hayes a byproduct of the Seguin trade, and if there’s anything that’s been given an unfair rap in this town, it’s any player even somewhat linked to that trade. But that’s not the only reason why people got on Hayes. While Smith soared to nearly 30 goals in Florida, Hayes ghosted his way through his first year here, even with ample power-play time (most of it undeserved in the second half of the season), and a putrid stretch featuring just five goals in the last 41 games of the year. The Hayes Theory also ignores the fact that Frank Vatrano, an East Longmeadow, Mass., native, was cheered again and again by Bruins fans. Why? Because he came out of nowhere and succeeded.
Oh, and he was from around here, too.
In a lot of ways, the Vesey angle is more similar to the Vatrano angle than it would be the Hayes angle. Like Vatrano, Vesey would be brought in on money alone, and come with a no-risk, high-reward potential for the Bruins. The only thing that
actually relates Vesey to Hayes is their neighborhood’s proximity to the Garden in comparison to Vatrano’s hike as a child.
And above all else, if you are what you pitch yourself as with these meetings and fanfare, you won’t have to worry about finding yourself in a situation like Jimmy Hayes did, because you’ll show up. So if the Bruins are to lose out on Vesey come Friday, or by the end of the weekend, or whenever this dog and pony show ends, just know that it won’t be because of where he’s from and where the B’s play.
It’s the only reason they got this far in the first place.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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