David Krejci pushes through injuries in the 2017-2018 season

David Krejci- Forward

Analysis:

Despite a few rumors circulating this summer, David Krejci isn’t going anywhere. I’m pretty confident those rumors came from the fans who want to see Krejci in a different sweater, seeing as he has a full no-movement clause for this upcoming season and won’t be an unrestricted free agent until the 2021-2022 season. During the season, the center may have missed some time with injury, but still managed to pull off 44 points and supported his team when they needed him.

Krejci has been incredibly prone to injury over the last two seasons. After having back surgery during the 2017 offseason, he returned to the line up only to miss a full month of play with a back injury in October and an additional two weeks with an upper-body injury in December. He persevered through these injuries to rack up a total of 44 points in 64 games. We’re pretty used to seeing Krejci in the 50-60 point range during a healthy season, so there wasn’t much of a point decline through his bouts of injury.

Even if he missed some valuable ice time, Krejci certainly had some highlights. Let us revisit maybe our favorite game of the season, the 8-4 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had his fourth career hat trick during this impressive Bruins victory. All three goals were beautiful and the icing on the already glorious Penguins defeat cake. It also should be noted that Krejci had two game-winning goals under his belt this season, on top of another hat trick.

Come playoffs, Krejci was healthy and suited up for 12 games. He had a total of ten playoff points, scoring three goals with seven assists. He averaged about 17 minutes on the ice during the playoffs and played an important role in the B’ roster. The second line center vibed well with linemates Jake DeBrusk and veteran right winger Rick Nash. With Nash’s NHL career up in the air, who do you think will take his spot on the Krejci line? It’ll be interesting to see the changes to this line if Nash does not return.

Aggregate grade: B+

It’s no secret Krejci is an important piece of the Bruins offensive arsenal. Had he been healthy all season, he probably would have achieved his usual points average somewhere in the 50-60 range. After missing some games with injury, he still found himself in the 40’s when it came to points, 10 of them coming in the playoffs. He faced adversity and had a few hurdles to jump over, but at the end of the day he was still the point producing second line center we expect him to be.