BOSTON — Standing in the visitors locker room at TD Garden on Saturday, Frank Vatrano was emitting a mixture of pride and excitement after the Ducks’ 3-2 win over the Bruins.
His gamble was starting to pay off.
In January, Vatrano committed to being in Anaheim for the foreseeable future. The former Bruins forward from East Longmeadow, who played at UMass, was counting on the promise he saw in his younger teammates bearing fruit not far down the road. He wanted to see it through.
So Vatrano signed a 3-year, $18 million contract (deferred money made it a $4.75 million annual cap hit).
Before that, if the NHL trade rumor mill was a place, Frank Vatrano would have been eligible to vote there. In a career that bounced him from Boston to Florida to New York to Anaheim, location uncertainty was the only certainty he had.
As a veteran scorer with a reasonable contract on a rebuilding team, Vatrano was an attractive target. Rangers fans especially filled social media with hopes for a reunion.
But Vatrano didn’t want to go to a contender, he wanted to help Anaheim become one.
“Ever since day one, in my first year here and last year, I knew this is where I wanted to be long term and saw the bigger picture. I see how we’re growing as a team,” he said. “This is one of the best groups I’ve ever been a part of. Great young core and we also have great older guys in this room that we kind of balance off each other. So it was something I wanted to be a part of and I don’t want to play anywhere else and just glad it’s done and over with now.”
After starting the year 18-23-6, Saturday’s win on Boston — in front quite a few Vatrano family and friends from Western Massachusetts — was Anaheim’s seventh win in the last eight games, a sign that their momentum hadn’t been stunted by the two weeks off for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Ducks are still a long shot to make the playoffs (8.8 percent chance according to Puckapedia). But for the first time in recent years, they at least have an outside shot. Even if they don’t make it, the experience of playing meaningful games in March and April will have value down the road.
“With this young team beginning of the year we kind of learned that it’s hard to win this league and I think we’re realizing and the points are valuable for both teams on both sides,” he said. “This is the crunch time, so space gets a little smaller and you’ve got to make smart decisions all over the ice and we’ve been doing that for.
“We just have a belief in one another in this room, you know, we’re a really close group,” he continued. “No one expected us to even be in this position we’re in right now, so we’re trying to prove everyone wrong. We know how good of a group we have in this room. For us, just to stay consistent, keep working, and trying to get better and win as many hockey games as possible.”
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