Bruins Sign Reich and Hendricks

[Malt]

BOSTON, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forwards Jeremy Reich and Matt Hendricks.

Reich, who will enter his third season with the Bruins organization, split time between Providence and Boston last year. In 32 games for Boston, the 28 year-old, 6’1”, 204-pound left wing tallied one assist, and 83 penalty minutes. In Providence last season, Reich totaled 11 points (4 G, 7 A) in 46 games, while amassing 105 penalty minutes.

A native of Craik, Saskatchewan, Reich was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round (39th overall) of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.

Hendricks joins the Bruins after spending last season with the Hershey Bears of the AHL. In 65 games for Hershey last season, Hendricks recorded 18 goals and 26 assists, with 105 penalty minutes.

The 6’0”, 215-pound center is a native of Blaine, Minnesota, and was originally drafted by the Nashville Predators in the fifth round (131st overall) of the 2000 NHL entry draft. He played four years of college hockey for St. Cloud State University (2000-2001 - 2003-2004), before spending the next two seasons with AHL clubs Lowell and Rochester, respectively.

[pbag]

Congrats Boston fans...
Two tough guys signed to one way deals, great news for us fight fans aswell!!

[steg1989]

Nice, should be a fun season to watch. Reich and Thornton should combine fore over 20 FM's. I think Boston is finally getting the picture...

[MattBurger]

Hopefully Boston's 4th line gives Bruins fans a reason to show up to games this season.

[Snipes19]

Awesome!
First they sign Thornton and now Reich re-signs. Great news for the Bruins.

Last year they had one really weak team but they aren't looking too bad now. They finally have a heavy and a few other fighters in Reich, Alberts, Chara, Wideman, and more.

Finally Bruins fans might get some entertainment next year!

[MattBurger]

Yeah, the B's have some tough players throughout their lineup this upcoming season. Not all of them necessarily are fighters, but they're players that play with grit, throw the body around, and love to mix it up in corners. Guys like Chara (assuming Julien lights a fire under him), Andrew Alberts, Brad Ference, Mark Stuart, Dennis Wideman, Shean Donovan and Aaron Ward will be nice complements to the two fighters on the team (Thornton and Reich).

[Smerri1029]

Very excited to see this when I got home. I'd love to have a fourth line of

Reich - Thompson - Thornton

this year. Would definately be an entertaining banger line.

[Merlin401]

Originally Posted by steg1989

Nice, should be a fun season to watch. Reich and Thornton should combine fore over 20 FM's. I think Boston is finally getting the picture...

They should be able to push for 30. After the huge free agent frenzy, now we start to get the little deals done and this is the first evidence I've seen that maybe the Ducks winning is going to get people to start dressing tough 4th lines again. Looks like a 4th line of Reich-Thompson-Thornton. Wow, thats a vast improvement over years past and these are multi-year one-way deals so unless they are horrible (unlikely), they're not going anywhere!

Hopefully more teams follow, but Boston really needed this. Can other enforcerless teams like Florida, Carolina, Detroit, Montreal, etc follow their lead? Hopefully...

[BGDDYKWL]

Very (pleasantly) surprised to see it's a one-way deal, especially after the addition of Thornton.

[Smerri1029]

Originally Posted by Merlin401

They should be able to push for 30. After the huge free agent frenzy, now we start to get the little deals done and this is the first evidence I've seen that maybe the Ducks winning is going to get people to start dressing tough 4th lines again. Looks like a 4th line of Reich-Thompson-Thornton. Wow, thats a vast improvement over years past and these are multi-year one-way deals so unless they are horrible (unlikely), they're not going anywhere!

Hopefully more teams follow, but Boston really needed this. Can other enforcerless teams like Florida, Carolina, Detroit, Montreal, etc follow their lead? Hopefully...

Hopefully Montreal can. Try and get a spark of a rivalry going again.

[Captain Crunch28]

Very good news! Shawn Thornton can take on a lot of the heavys, and Reich can take on everyone else!

Good to see two tough guys with the Bruins on one way contracts!

[caps05]

Originally Posted by Merlin401

They should be able to push for 30. After the huge free agent frenzy, now we start to get the little deals done and this is the first evidence I've seen that maybe the Ducks winning is going to get people to start dressing tough 4th lines again. Looks like a 4th line of Reich-Thompson-Thornton. Wow, thats a vast improvement over years past and these are multi-year one-way deals so unless they are horrible (unlikely), they're not going anywhere!

Hopefully more teams follow, but Boston really needed this. Can other enforcerless teams like Florida, Carolina, Detroit, Montreal, etc follow their lead? Hopefully...

This signing and Fridge signing in Dallas to give them a heavy as well are good signs.

Carolina did sign Wade Brookbank, but whether they keep him there or send him down to the AHL like the Pens did last season remains to be seen of course.

[Smerri1029]

After going without a designated tough guy for much of the past two seasons, will Boston actually dress two this year?

“Absolutely,” answered Chiarelli. “Now you can have (physical) guys on both sides, on either the third or fourth line.”

More...

Music to my ears.

[steg1989]

Originally Posted by Smerri1029

Very excited to see this when I got home. I'd love to have a fourth line of

Reich - Thompson - Thornton

this year. Would definately be an entertaining banger line.

Well that sure is better than Mowers - Tenkrat - Chistov.

[caps05]

Originally Posted by Smerri1029

More...

Music to my ears.

To quote Eric Cartman from South Park, "SWEET".