On Tuesday, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney announced that the team had signed forward Marc McLaughlin to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal carries an AAV of $775,000 through the 2024-25 season.
McLaughlin just finished up another one-year contract for the 2023-24 campaign, also with a $775,000 cap hit. The North Billerica, Massachusetts native played just one game this season for the Bruins, scoring his first NHL goal against the New York Islanders on March 2.
That has been the story during McLaughlin’s pro career. The undrafted forward signed with Boston at the conclusion of his four years at Boston College. He played 11 games at the tail end of the 2021-22 season before joining the Bruins’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Providence Bruins, for that year’s Calder Cup Playoffs.
McLaughlin has come nowhere near that many games with the big club. He ended up playing just two games with Boston during the 2022-23 campaign. In total, the former Cedar Rapids Roughrider has played in only 14 NHL games, with just one goal to his name.
At the minor-league level, McLaughlin has shown he can be a solid secondary scorer, notching 13 goals and 17 assists for a career-high 30 points two seasons ago. In 135 AHL appearances, he has scored 21 goals and 23 assists, with one goal in eight playoff games.
Prior to making the jump to the pros, McLaughlin had a solid collegiate career with Boston College, where he was the captain in his junior and senior seasons. He was also named Hockey East’s best defensive forward twice, and was voted onto the conference’s Third All-Star Team after the 2020-21 campaign.
McLaughlin received the opportunity to represent his country on the biggest stage, as he played for Team USA at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He played in two games and scored no points.
