Julien On Scratching Beleskey: 'We Need More From Him'
BOSTON (CBS) -- In nine games this season, Bruins winger Matt Beleskey has zero goals and zero assists to his name. On Wednesday night in Tampa, he'll have one seat with his name on it up on the press level.
Beleskey will be a healthy scratch as the Bruins take on the Lightning, and head coach Claude Julien was honest in the reasoning behind the move.
"We need better from him," Julien said, per CSNNE's Joe Haggerty. "We've done everything we can to help him out. I feel it's not a bad thing to take a step back and watch a game, hopefully regroup in his mind and come back with the intentions of being in there every night."
Beleskey, who signed a five-year deal worth $19 million prior to last season, tallied 15 goals and 22 assists in 2015-16, setting a career high in games played and posting the second-highest point total of his career. But the points have been hard to come by for Beleskey, along with linemates Jimmy Hayes and Riley Nash, to start the 2016-17 campaign.
"He's a good player, and right now I think we're getting a little bit more out of our role players than we're getting out of him. So this is a decision based on performance, and this is what I'm going with," Julien said.