Boston Bruins

Bruins moving on from Rinaldo; Cross re-signs
June 14, 2017, 7:24 PM ET [62 Comments]
Ty Anderson
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The Zac Rinaldo Era, one that made little sense to begin with, appears to be over for the Bruins.

Acquired by the Bruins back in 2015 in exchange for a 2017 third-round pick, the Bruins have informed Rinaldo that he will not be retained by the club, this according to Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland, and confirmed to WEEI.com by an independent source.

The 5-foot-10 winger struggled to make an impact and find ice-time in his first and only season with the Big B’s, with just one goal and three points in 52 games. But at the same time, Rinaldo did come as advertised, with 154 hits and 83 minutes in penalties over that 52-game run, and the end of his run came following an illegal check to the head of Lightning forward Cedric Paquette in a Feb. 28 game.

The hit came right after Rinaldo was put on waivers (he went unclaimed), and once the NHL handed a five-game ban his way, Rinaldo was seemingly banished to the minors by B’s GM Don Sweeney.

It was there that Rinaldo finished his 2015-16 campaign, with two games and 12 minutes in penalties for the P-Bruins, and where he stayed for the entire 2016-17 campaign after an early cut from Bruins training camp, with five goals, seven points, and 20 penalty minutes in 29 games with Providence.

Rinaldo, by the way, still has to serve that five-game suspension upon any NHL recall.

A third round pick. A third round pick!

Tommy Cross re-signs with Bruins

In a calm before the storm that begins with next week's expansion draft, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney continued to take care of some housekeeping on Wednesday afternoon, signing depth defenseman Tommy Cross to a one-year, two-way contract worth $650,000 at the NHL level.

The Connecticut-born Cross did not play in a regular-season game for the Bruins this past season, instead setting career highs in goals (12), assists (23), points (35), and plus/minus (plus-18) in 74 games for the P-Bruins. He also appeared in 16 postseason games with Providence, notching two goals and seven assists for nine points with 20 penalty minutes.

The 27-year-old Cross, a second-round draft choice of the B's all the way back in 2007, did however skate in one playoff game for the Big B's this spring, with one assist and two blocked shots in 13:08 of action in the club's 4-3 overtime loss to the Senators in Game 3. Before that, the 6-foot-3's last NHL taste came during a three-game cameo in 2015-16.

A stay-at-home, shutdown defender at the AHL level, Cross has been the captain of the P-Bruins for the past two seasons, and will continue to skate in that role as two of the club's top defensive prospects (Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril) are expected to make their jump from juniors to the AHL next season.

Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.