Matt Beleskey is set to cash in on a career-year, managed at the perfect time in his NHL tenure, and could, according to the latest report, potentially wind up doing that cashing in as the newest member of the Boston Bruins.
"Boston believed to be among teams working on Beleskey. Teams are trying to restructure term. Right now very much a moving target," TSN NHL Insider Darren Dreger tweeted Wednesday.
ESPN's Craig Custance added shortly thereafter that the B's were "emerging as the favorites" to land Beleskey.
Bruins GM Don Sweeney has already been extremely busy this offseason, dealing Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic just prior to the 2015 NHL Draft and adding Zac Rinaldo and flipping Martin Jones shortly thereafter.
Now, it seems he may have his sights set on adding another powerful and gritty young veteran forward to his lineup.
Beleskey, 27, finished last season with the Anaheim Ducks with 22 goals and 10 assists. Considering he'd never posted more than 11 goals in a season, that represents a pretty big uptick in overall play and production for a guy who has mostly hovered around the teens points-wise thus far in a seven-year NHL career.
Beleskey took on an important role for the Ducks last season and wound up adding eight playoff goals in 16 postseason contests to his overall tally.
A report from ESPN's Pierre LeBrun on Monday indicated that interest in Beleskey was "through the roof" with more than a dozen teams reaching out to the former fourth-round pick.
While Sweeney and the B's may not have a leg up on the competition in terms of cap space - they're currently got about $7.7 million, per NHLNumbers.com - they do have their hearts set on playing the kind of tough, grinding-but-opportunistic game that would seem to fit Beleskey like a glove.
UPDATE, 7 pm: Beleskey's a Bruin.
5 yrs, $19 mil total for Beleskey in Boston. Aav of $3.8 mil. No move clause in first two years.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) July 1, 2015
