The Bruins are slowly but surely taking care of all their summer loose ends. The B's announced on Tuesday that they've signed forward Austin Czarnik to a one-year, two-way deal worth $650,000 at the NHL level.
Czarnik, 24, had 5 goals and 13 points in 49 games for the Bruins last season, and posted 6 goals and 23 points in 22 games for the Providence Bruins. Czarnik had arbitration rights but waived them in order to sign a one-year contract for a minimal number at the NHL level while giving himself another crack at carving out an NHL job for himself in Boston.
The 5-foot-9, 160-pound Michigan native was a standout in training camp last season as a fast-skating, aggressive forward with a scoring touch, and had a few moments of excellence during his first taste of NHL action. But he seemed to have a difficult time maintaining his high pace of play at the NHL level, and physically it was difficult for the undersized forward to survive at both ends of the ice once he got consistent playing time.
With other young prospects like Jake DeBrusk, Zach Senyshyn, Anders Bjork and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson on the rise, Czarnik is at risk of being bypassed organizationally in Boston unless he can really pull out the stops this season. It could be that Czarnik is a "tweener" type of player who will post massive AHL numbers -- like Seth Griffith, for instance -- but isn't fast enough, strong enough or big enough to become that kind of player at the NHL level.
With Czarnik signed, it leaves arbitration-eligible Ryan Spooner and big-fish restricted free agent David Pastrnak as the final two items on Don Sweeney's check list to finish off for his own players before venturing out into the second, or third, wave of free agents still available on the market.