The Bruins are poised to add some grit into their bottom six group of forwards as they are expected to ink center Chris Wagner to a two-year contract, reports Fox Sports West’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). Mark Divver of the Providence Journal adds (via Twitter) that Wagner will get a two-year deal with a $1.25MM AAV.
The 27-year-old spent the majority of the season with Anaheim before being dealt to the Islanders at the trade deadline in exchange for winger Jason Chimera. He is coming off of a career year offensively as he collected 16 points (7-9-16) in 79 games while logging 13:17 per night of playing time. For perspective, he came into 2017-18 with a total of 13 points in 95 games over parts of three seasons.
However, despite his increase in production, Wagner is most known for his physicality. He ranked third in the league – second among forwards – in hits last season with 253, an average of 3.2 per game. The Bruins will be counting on that to continue from their fourth line for the next couple of years.