The Bruins needed to add to their bottom six up front, and they took a step towards doing that Wednesday afternoon by reportedly signing a pair of depth forwards.
According to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, the Bruins have signed Erik Haula to a two-year deal with an average annual value of $2.375 million. And according to TSN colleague Darren Dreger, Boston has also signed Tomas Nosek to a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.75 million.
UPDATE: The Bruins have now officially announced both signings for those exact years and money.
Haula, 30, can play all three forward positions. He had nine goals and 12 assists in 51 games for the Nashville Predators last season. Haula had a 55-point season back in 2017-18 with the Vegas Golden Knights, but that was an extreme outlier in his career. His second-highest total in his eight-year career was 34 in 2015-16.
Haula was teammates with Charlie Coyle in Minnesota from 2013-17, although they only occasionally played on the same line. Haula would appear to be destined to join Coyle on the Bruins' third line now.
Nosek, 28, has spent the last four seasons with Vegas and is coming off his best season on per-game basis, recording eight goals and 10 assists in 38 games. Like Haula, he's a left shot who can play center or wing.
One thing worth noting is that Nosek has generally gotten more offensive-zone faceoffs than defensive-zone faceoffs, which is the opposite of how the Bruins have used their fourth line in recent years. If the Bruins were looking for a little more offensive pop from that line, though, Nosek can bring it.
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