Bruins finally signed $867,500 Notre Dame defenseman Drew Bavaro to a one-year

The Boston Bruins signed Notre Dame defenseman Drew Bavaro to a one-year, $867,500 entry-level contract on Tuesday.

Drew Bavaro, 23, spent the last two seasons playing for the Fighting Irish, but prior to that, the Lakewood Ranch, Florida native plied his trade in Waltham, MA, playing for the Bentley Falcons. After four seasons playing at Lawrence Academy, the 6-foot-3, 202-pound, right-shot defenseman spent a season playing for the Wenatchee Wild of the BCHL before heading to Bentley. In his first season for the Falcons, Bavaro had two goals and ten assists in 16 games as a freshman and then nine goals and 18 assists in 36 games as a sophomore. He was named a first-team all-Atlantic Hockey selection following the 2021-22 season.

Following his sophomore season at Bentley, Bavaro decided to enter the NCAA Hockey transfer portal in May 2022 and wound up transferring to the University of Notre

Note: The portal launched in the fall of 2018 as a communication tool to help give athletes more say in the process of switching schools. To enter the transfer portal, athletes notify the school of their intent to transfer. From there, the school’s compliance department has 48 hours to put an athlete’s name into the portal.

In his first season playing for the Fighting Irish, Bavaro scored six goals and had 13 assists in 37 games. He followed that up with ten goals and ten assists in 35 games this past season before he and his team were eliminated in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

Bavaro will report to the Providence Bruins on an ATO for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

This is the first NCAA free agent signing by the Boston Bruins, who have made a habit of using the NCAA free agent market successfully.