Boston Bruins: Rich Peverley and Other Candidates for the 7th Player Award

As they have done on an annual basis since the 1968-69 season, the Boston Bruins will dole out their Seventh Player Award prior to a home game in the final week of the regular season.

This year’s prize for exceeding one’s expectations will likely go to a third-line caliber striker, for they are the chief reason the Bruins remain the second-most prolific offense in the NHL even after a January-February downturn.

Ultimately, in accordance with Boston’s posture defying the many lengthy low points in its 2011-12 campaign, no Seventh Player honoree would be more fitting than Rich Peverley. Three separate injuries have forced him to miss 25 games, yet he is sixth on the team with 29 assists and seventh on the Bruins’ point-getting leaderboard with 39.

If he had been healthy for the full 82-game schedule, the versatile forward could have made a run at a career-high 60 points in his first full season as a Bruin. He could still meet or exceed his previous single-season high of 33 helpers from his final full season as an Atlanta Thrasher in 2009-10.

And ever since the start of November, despite his multiple stints on the sideline, Peverley has yet to go more than three appearances without at least one point.

But there are at least five other worthy candidates, all of whom have either raised or revamped their standards since donning the spoked-B this season. Their cases for claiming the crown, in descending order of quality, are assessed as follows.

Jordan Caron

The professional sophomore has again split his season between Boston and Providence, but has not missed a game with the parent club since Feb. 5. That owes to a combination of injuries to fellow forwards and Caron’s own opportunism.

Beyond his seven goals and seven assists, most of which have come in the month of March, Caron has made an impression in the area of physicality. He entered Sunday night’s visit to the New York Rangers with 60 hits in 45 NHL games. That’s more body-checks than what five other Bruins’ skaters have each collected in more appearances on the year.

Brian Rolston

Is there any room for a last-minute (or last-month) ballot entry? If so, it would be a breach of justice not to at least consider this year’s offensive deadline acquisition.

Rolston needed about two weeks to settle into his second stint as a Bruin, but ultimately needed only 15 games to eclipse his 49-game output with the Islanders earlier in the season.

Chris Kelly

Peverley’s off-and-on linemate and fellow import from the 2011 trading deadline, Kelly has already penned a career campaign with 20 goals and 38 points. And only Tyler Seguin has more game-winning goals for Boston.

However, a protracted cold spell from about Jan. 7 to March 17, which virtually personified the team’s mediocre period, could cost him. Kelly effectively elevated his expectations with a November hot streak that constituted a good portion of his total productivity for the season.

Benoit Pouliot

Another secondary scorer with career numbers on the year. But like Kelly, Pouliot has been inconsistent, with his points generally coming in bunches before he goes on a dry spell. That trend could justifiably hurt his hardware candidacy.

Andrew Ference

If nothing else, the seasoned blueliner has occasionally shed his stay-at-home status, just enough to insert a career-high six goals and assemble his second-highest single-season collection of assists with 18.