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After dipping into the free agent market twice today, Lou Lamoriello decides to re-sign one of the CBGB line by signing Steve Bernier to a one year deal worth $600 thousand. The deal was reported here by TSN analyst Bob McKenzie, among others:
Steve Bernier re-signs with NJD, one year, $600K.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) July 1, 2014
On Sunday, I wrote up an article debating which of the CBGB line should stay and which should go. You can find that article here. Instead of going through all of the numbers again here, I suggest you check out that article, where I lay out many of Bernier's statistics and what they mean. To quickly summarize here: Bernier's production has been incredibly low over the last two seasons, but there are underlying numbers to help explain for it. One, he was incredibly unlucky, with an extremely low PDO, and two, his shooting percentage has also been at rock bottom. Mike did a post on Bernier's historic freeze earlier in the season.
While the luck and shooting percentage get him off the hook somewhat, what cannot help him is the fact that he was not good at all while playing in the top 9 and top 6. Due to injuries this past season, Bernier was moved up to play on the 2nd and 3rd lines for portions of the season. And he did not do well. Therefore, this signing should hopefully mean that Bernier stays on the fourth line, playing with whomever else is put there. And considering the contract he just received, it looks like that could be the case.
In the end, I like this deal considering the price. It carries zero risk for New Jersey, and it lets them bring back a quality fourth liner for the team, one that has not hurt in possession, and works well to minimize Corsi events for the opposing team. While I would have preferred that Ryan Carter were the first to be brought back between the 3 CBGB players, I cannot be upset about this resigning. It is a smart move in my opinion, considering the money and lack of risk.
Now that the first of the CBGB line has been brought back, what do you think about the deal? Was it good for our favorite team, or was it a bad move? Do you want to see more of the CBGB line brought back, or considering the Cammalleri and Havlat signings, are you content with just Bernier? Please leave your comments below, and thank you for reading.