When it comes to NHL stats, some are tough to believe. There are also some that fans check not once, but twice to see if it’s real. When it comes to Boston Bruins forward Mikey Eyssimont, well, this is one that Black and Gold fans will check twice to believe.
Yes, it’s true, Bruins fans, Mikey Eyssimont is one of the top NHL players in one statistical category that some might find hard to believe. The truth is, he only played in 56 games this past season to get a read on it, but Eyssimont is good at one thing, according to the numbers: Drawing a penalty.
Bruins forward Mikey Eyssimont ranks near the top of the NHL in penalties drawn
According to Travis Yost of TSN, Eyssimont ranks 15th in the NHL in terms of drawing penalties from 2024-26. In 133 games, according to Yost, Eyssimont has drawn 1.40 penalties per 60 minutes. Again, he played just 56 games for Marco Sturm last year, but could that explain why general manager Don Sweeney went after him in free agency?
Last summer, the Bruins gave Eyssimont a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.45 million. Let’s just say that his first season in Boston didn’t go the way he hoped or the Bruins would have liked, but the numbers tell us that he’s difficult and frustrating to play against, something that was a goal of the front office when putting their roster for the 2025-26 season.
The new-look bottom-six played a big part in Boston’s turnaround season, where they went from a team not expected to make the playoffs when the season began to be the first Eastern Conference wild-card team when the dust settled.
Before coming to Boston, Eyssimont spent the 2024-25 season between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken and played in 77 games. Now, what the future holds for Eyssimont with the Bruins remains to be seen. He’s under contract for next season; however, he is someone who it wouldn’t be surprising to see moved in a trade. It’s a contract that Sweeney would like to move. If he can’t, then Eyssimont becoming tough to play against and drawing more penalties would be his goal in 2026-27.
