Once a Bruins foe, James van Riemsdyk has found a familiar home in Boston

Bruins

“You battle with a guy for so long and then you get on their side and you realize how great of a guy they are.”

James van Riemsdyk has established himself as a dependable veteran in Boston’s lineup. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

James van Riemsdyk has donned a black-and-gold sweater for just 23 of his 963 games logged in the NHL.

He’s gained more mileage as a thorn in the side of the Bruins over the years as a top-six stalwart with the Flyers and Maple Leafs. 

In 49 career games against Boston, van Riemsdyk posted 37 points (18 goals, 19 assists) — while over a third of his 71 career playoff bouts have been against the Original Six franchise (26). 

A 6-foot-3 winger capable of generating Grade-A chances by way of screens or slick seam passes, van Riemsdyk has made a living out of decimating defenses at their doorstep — putting even poised Bruins netminders like Tim Thomas, Tuukka Rask, and Linus Ullmark under duress when planting himself near the crease. 

Van Riemsdyk’s allegiances have shifted this winter after signing in free agency with Boston. But the 35-year-old skater’s role hasn’t changed much whenever he hops over the boards.

And so far, the Bruins have reaped the rewards provided by their former foe.

“He’s holding on to pucks a lot more than I think he’s ever done — in a while, anyway — in his career,” Jim Montgomery said of van Riemsdyk’s play on Wednesday. “But what he’s added to us: one of the things we like to track is netfront battles. We seem to win that almost every night this year, and he’s one of the leaders in that.” 

Signed to a one-year, $1 million deal with Boston back in July, van Riemsdyk has been one of the best value adds across the NHL so far in 2023-24.

According to CapFriendly, van Riemsdyk ranks 17th in the NHL in cost per point ($62,500) this season after scoring 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his first 23 games with Boston. 

Twelve of the 16 players in front of the winger on CapFriendly’s ranking are rookies on team-friendly, entry-level deals like Anaheim’s Mason McTavish ($42,579), Detroit’s Lucas Raymond ($46,250), and Chicago’s Connor Bedard ($47,500). 

A featured role on Boston’s power-play unit has paid dividends for van Riemsdyk, especially when poised playmakers like David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand are the ones feeding him the puck in Grade-A ice.

After scoring just two tallies and four total points on a toothless Flyers man advantage in 2022-23, van Riemsdyk has already buried three goals and added four helpers on Boston’s power play through the first quarter of the new campaign.

“They’re just smart players, so they know the times to move the puck, the times to hold it, the times to shoot it and things like that,” van Riemsdyk said of playing alongside Pastrnak and Marchand. “It seems like a simple thing, but when you make the right plays at the right times — it really helps open a lot of things up for everyone else.”

But beyond his fit on the ice, van Riemsdyk has also established himself as a veteran resource in a Bruins dressing room anchored by an old rival in Marchand.

Both wingers entered the NHL during the 2009-10 season and have exchanged plenty of post-whistle pleasantries at the netfront over the years. As expected, those sour sentiments have dissipated now that the duo sit just a few stalls away from one another. 

“You knew how dialed in he was and how much he loved the game and stuff like that,” van Riemsdyk said of Marchand. “But I think it’s always kind of fun and funny in a way when you battle with a guy for so long and then you get on their side and you realize how great of a guy they are… I think that’s the fun part of the game where you have these rivalries over the years and a lot of hotly contested games and things like that.”

For all of his past battles with Boston, van Riemsdyk shared a sentiment routinely echoed by other free agents and traded players who land with the Bruins, where a culture cultivated by the likes of Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron has made for an easy transition to a new team.

It might be just 23 games, but van Riemsdyk already feels settled into his new home — and that seamless fit has reflected itself on the scoresheet time and time again.

“You always hear about things. But until you experience it, you don’t really fully know,” van Riemsdyk said of Boston. “There’s not any stones unturned as far as guys’ resources that they have available to us as far as the different avenues to help us be prepared to be at our best on the ice and take care of us off the ice mentally and things like that.

“So there’s lots of different avenues for that. It seems like the group really tries to take care of each other. That’s been fun to be a part of.”