Done deal: Bruins signs new forward, deal carries annual cap of $867,500.
One Mass. native secured his two-year entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins on Sunday when the team announced it signed Riley Duran. The deal carries an annual cap hit of $867,500.
A sixth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Duran spent the last three seasons playing for Providence College. He’ll now report to the Providence Bruins on an amateur tryout for the remainder of the season.
Duran potted nine goals and 16 assists for the Friars this season, and was tied for fourth in scoring during the 2022-23 campaign with 20 points. The 6-foot-1, 194-pound forward totaled 102 games for the NCAA team, amassing 27 goals and 28 assists.
Aside from his tenure at Providence, Duran also skated for Team USA in the 2022 World Juniors Championship where he potted two goals and three assists.
Bruins Reassign John Beecher
Bruins forward John Beecher is back on the farm with AHL Providence after being reassigned Sunday, per CapFriendly.
The 22-year-old center/winger has spent most of the season in the majors, landing a spot on the opening-night roster and making his NHL debut over four years after Boston selected him with the 30th overall pick in the 2019 draft. He was designated for the minors for the first time this season on Jan. 20 and remained there through the trade deadline until being recalled on three separate emergency loans earlier this month. He’d been on the NHL roster without reassignment since Mar. 16 after being papered between leagues five times in six days.
Beecher had played in four consecutive contests before being scratched due to illness in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Flyers. He scored once on three shots on goal and added an assist and a +1 rating in that timeframe, playing solid bottom-six minutes while averaging 12:28 per game.
He wouldn’t have lasted much longer on the active roster anyway, at least as an emergency recall. Winger James van Riemsdyk returned from an illness that kept him out for most of mid-March against Philadelphia, ending the conditions that required Beecher to have 12 healthy forwards. If the Bruins want to bring Beecher up without any other absences from their forward group, they would need to utilize one of their three remaining post-deadline standard recalls.
After an injury-plagued collegiate career with the University of Michigan and middling offensive results in the minors, it seems unlikely the 6-foot-3 pivot will reach the ceiling Boston hoped for by selecting him in the first round. Overall, early returns on his impact in a fourth-line role aren’t terribly promising outside of his 54.7 FO%, as he’s managed only six goals and three assists through 43 games.
He’s also recorded the worst even-strength CF% (37.7) of any Bruins skater with at least 10 games played. His -6.3 expected rating is also the lowest on the team.
Beecher has shown some improvement with Providence this season, posting 4-4–8 with a +9 rating in 17 games compared to 9-14–23 and a +9 rating in 61 games last year. The New York native is in the second season of his three-year, $2.775M entry-level contract, which pays him a $70K salary at the minor-league level.
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