Boris Valabik, we never knew ye.
The 25-year-old defenseman the Bruins acquired as a throw-in in the Rich Peverley deal with Atlanta has signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins as an unrestricted free agent.
Valabik was scheduled to become a restricted free agent before the Bruins opted to not tender him a qualifying offer. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Valabik’s new deal is a one-year, two-way contract.
After he was acquired from the Thrashers in the deal that sent Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart to Atlanta, Valabik skated in just 10 games for the Bruins’ Providence (AHL) farm club. He recorded two assists and a minus-1 rating before a leg injury ended his season.
Published By mattk Sun. July 3, 2011 3:53 pm EDT
He’ll never be an NHL’r. Maybe see a game or two, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the skill-set or tenacity to play at that level, game in and game out.
The Boris Valabik era is ova.
He and Crosby got into it a few years ago and Crosby landed one below the belt on Valabik.
About the only thing nice I can say about him is that he is big.
In the Providence game I saw him play he had two speeds-slow and really slow. He is one of those players where I have doubts he will ever really crack an NHL line up and if he does he probably won’t receive a regular roster spot.
I totally understand why the Bruins opted to let him look elsewhere.