The Anaheim Ducks are stacked this season – a roster filled with above average players. Is Nick Bonino buried on the 4th line behind other talented centers?
It can be argued the Anaheim Ducks‘ Nick Bonino is not a true 4th line center. That with 1st unit powerplay responsibilities and 16 minutes of ice time a night, it’s a little unfair to compare him to other 4th line centers. Despite this however, Bonino still plays a majority of his 5-on-5 time on the 4th line behind centers Ryan Getzlaf, Mathieu Perreault, and Saku Koivu.
Playing on the fourth line and making only $700,000 this year, Bonino has scored 32 points in 46 games including 13 goals. That’s a prorated pace of 22 goals 33 assists and 56 points through a full 82 game season. Those are numbers that could get a free agent in today’s market upwards of $3 million per season.
A player with Bonino’s defensive talents and those numbers could likely fetch $5 million from a team hungry for a good two-way second line center. Luckily for the Ducks, they locked him in for an additional 3 years making $1.9 million a year. The contract could prove to be a massive steal for the Ducks if the 25-year-old still shows improvement.
And it’s entirely possible that this isn’t as good as Bonino is going to get offensively. Once Koivu retires, it’s almost a guarantee that Bonino will be moved to the 3rd line and would receive even more minutes. Or management and coaching could decide to use him as the second line center between Jakob Silfverberg and potentially Kyle Palmieri.
Having Bonino likely gives the Ducks the freedom to boast the top center playing a fourth line in the league. Bonino puts up excellent second line center numbers and he still works as an excellent defensive tool for the Ducks. In his 46 games played Bonino has blocked 41 shots and has been credited with 20 takeaways.
What doesn’t show up on the stat sheets are some of Bonino’s intangibles. In the last year Bonino has shown a greatly improved sense of where the puck is, where he needs to jump into plays and where to jump in on defense. Watching Bonino play, it’s obvious that he is a dynamic player and as a result Bruce Boudreau gives him more responsibilities throughout the lineup. The more he grows, the better the prospects are for the future of the Anaheim Ducks.
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