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Boston Bruins report card: No. 81 Miroslav Satan
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Name: Miroslav Satan
Position: Right wing
Age: 35
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 191
Shoots: Left
Status: UFA
Regular season, EV: 16.39% w/Vladimir Sobotka and Milan Lucic
Regular season, PP: 37.5% w/Michael Ryder and Marco Sturm
Playoffs, EV: 33.02% w/Krejci and Sturm
Playoffs, PP: 21.65% /Marc Savard and Ryder
The Good: Picked up for short money—$700,000 pro-rated—on Jan. 2, the B’s acquired the 14-year veteran forward who showed he still had a lot of offense to contribute. Although potting nine in 38 regular season games—on pace for roughly 20 in a full 82-game season—it was in the playoffs where Satan’s signing turned into a steal.
After heating-up during the Olympics, 1-1-2 in 6GP, Satan scored six of his nine goals in 17 of the last 20 games on the regular season with the Bruins, and carried that momentum into the post season. His five goals and 10 points both ranked second on the team, and his 37 shots on goal was tied for first. He really found his glitch skating on David Krejci’s wing.
The Bad: No. 81 ironically scored his last goal, and last point, on the very play in which Krejci skated his last shift of the 2009-10 season. After Krejci fed Satan the puck in the neutral zone in Game 3, then dislocating his wrist from a Mike Richards open-ice hit, Satan disappeared—zero points, nine shots on net, and a minus-1 rating in the final four games without the center.
Began the season far too quick. He was anticipated to practice with the team for at least a week before dressing in his first game. But with key injuries (Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic) Satan made his debut on Jan. 5 against Ottawa; three days after his signing.
Very much a one-way player; doesn’t fit the mold of Claude Julien’s defense-first system.
Final Grade:
Officially a UFA on Jul. 1, the overwhelming consensus is that the 35-year-old Satan will land in another city. That may be the case, but here are a few things to consider.
- 1. This past off-season, Satan went unsigned for six months before he was reunited with his friend and fellow countryman Zdeno Chara in Boston. The Bruins are definitely a playoff caliber team next season—so perhaps he may want to avoid free-agency and sign a one-year guaranteed contract in Boston with Chara?
2. He spent most of the regular season with Vladimir Sobotka as his set-up man in the middle. And no knock on the 22-year-old Sobotka, but he’s far from an offensive threat with the puck. Satan also spent far too much time on the power play during the regular season without a center or a true playmaker—Michael Ryder and Marco Sturm.
Despite his age and the Bruins’ wanting to get younger at the forward position, if Satan can be inked for another season under $2M, I think it’s something to seriously consider. After all, he was a hundred times better lined with David Krejci than Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder did combined this past season. And if Julien could keep this duo together on the power play as well, who knows what could happen.
Next report card: No. 91 Marc Savard
Check out my other 22 report cards right here
