For the first time in awhile, the Boston Bruins have cap space heading into the offseason. Let’s talk about how they can use that.
Alright, since we’ve got about a week’s worth of time before we have to consider caring about Edmonton (yuck) or Florida (yuck), and I’m personally blanking on how to adequately memorialize/eulogize the Matthews Arena and the enormity of potentially losing that barn, we might as well start to think a little harder about what happens once the Stanley Cup Playoffs are over for the Black and Gold.
The Bruins are once again out early, but unlike last year, the stakes of it being Bergeron’s last go aren’t there, so while it sucks that it keeps being Florida that ends Boston’s season, the writing on how far that team could realistically go was always in the desperate need of a lot going right. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how transition periods in any team’s life begin; at least some success that needs luck to sustain itself…and they got a lot of luck over an 82 game schedule.
Unlike a lot of years where the Bruins have tried and failed to bring home the glory, they have a lot of something they previously haven’t; Cap Space, in Avarice. Thanks to a number of business-side of the game things that have been ironed out, the NHL Salary Cap is set to begin a number of growth spurts in the coming years; starting with a 4.2 million dollar jump next season. Combine that with about eight players from throughout the lineup hitting the UFA market this year, the Boston Bruins have, for the first time in a good long time…some room to maneuver. A little spending money. A little “Walking around Target” money, if you will; totalling roughly $20 million and change.
So…what do they do with it?
Let’s try and forge a path of this very interesting offseason before it starts in earnest.
The Obvious first stop: Get A Good Center
Boston needs a Top 6 center, and badly.
No more half measures, no more committees by guys who can kind of fill in…get somebody who can actually do faceoffs and win them consistently. Everything else is set dressing to this particular issue.
As for how to go about doing that? Well, there are some avenues. Some better than others.
Free Agency is as disappointing as it usually is these days, with the best options being slim pickings or getting up there in years. There’s value to be had in a middle six center, what with half the Golden Knights and Florida Panthers forward corps being UFAs come the end of this month, and a number of high profile names like Steven Stamkos and Elias Lindholm leading the class…but the drop off after even guys like Chandler Stephenson is pretty stark. You could take a chance on guys like Jack Roslovic or Teddy Blueger, but again…you’re looking for guys who can play close to 18 minutes a night, and a lot of this UFA class is well over 30. I like both of those guys and think they’ll be a value add for any team they join, but you’d need to be absolutely certain they can bring an impact…and I don’t know if they do that for a Top 6.
Which brings us to Trades. There are Centers To Be Had in a trade.
Martin Necas’ dad certainly made it clear that Carolina is not his final destination, so he could be a worthy choice. If you haven’t been keeping up with Anaheim’s local business, it seems the ownership group is priming the Honda Center for major internal revision and has given Pat Verbeek a blank check to go make some mistakes with their money; and one of the few positions of unambiguous strength for the Ducks is down the middle, especially with the rise of Leo Carlsson. Utah might try to be active on account of trying to convince the City of Salt Lake that they didn’t just buy this franchise to convince city council to spend public money on the Delta Center. Vancouver might be itching to figure out what the hell’s going on with their centers, and will either need to trust their prospect system to spit out some replacements for their UFAs…or get busy on the market.
But, you could always promote from within! Matthew Poitras may have held a lot of rookie jitters, but he showed tons of promise, and even if he’s not the answer for 1C, he could easily fit the 2C role with no real issues beyond keeping him healthy, which was his downfall this year. Surely there’s someone else who could continue to take this particular job for the B’s, right?
Personally, I do not recommend this option, but it is an option!
The big question then…is if you had a deal, what would be going back? It’d be a coup of it was forward, it’d be a miracle if it were one of the defenders…so the only answer of unambiguous strength is in goal.
Speaking of which…
What’s Jeremy Swayman’s contract going to look like?
The other thing that absolutely needs to be done.
The Boston Bruins under Jim Montgomery have had literal unprecedented success, but a lot of it has come on the backs of Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, both of whom have been in the conversations for Vezina and Jennings since Monty’s ascension to the position.
Which is kind of a problem, because Swayman’s an RFA, and Ullmark’s only got a year left in his deal. If the Bruins are honest with themselves, while having both is a luxury few teams can boast of…it’s becoming abundantly clear Jeremy Swayman is the guy they see as the long-term future of the team in net, unless Brandon Bussi decides that he’s actually a future Vezina candidate as well. He’s also an RFA, for the record, and has served his team well. Gonna need to reward that at some point.
A fair price for Swayman would very easily dictate the rest of the offseason if done quickly; letting it drag out like other RFAs, especially given that as of right now the only goalie under official contract on the team is Ullmark…could end with Sway being able to jack the price up. Ullmark meanwhile, is more than likely aware this is probably the end of the line for his time in Boston; not necessarily as a negative, but more like a neutral statement of him being an enormously covetable asset thanks to his strong play, one that certain teams in-conference and out-of-conference would pay through the nose to get. As a result, while they absolutely could start the season with Linus, and there’s an argument to be had that maybe it’s better for them…I don’t know if Don doesn’t see an extremely tantalizing offer. Maybe even during the draft.
As such, I would very much appreciate it if Don and company just figured this exact thing out before they get into the weeds of the offseason.
Who do you keep?
The painful reality of having a 20 million dollar cushion in today’s NHL is that while it helps a lot, especially if you’re trying to retool on the fly like Boston is, it can be burned up pretty quickly. The big fish; Swayman and An Good Center™, will likely command a good portion of that. So let’s say…10-12 million is spoken for already in one player they already have, and one player they don’t have yet. That leaves something to the tune of 10-to-8 million for the RFAs, who are:
- Jesper Boqvist
- Brandon Bussi
- Jeremy Swayman
Boqvist could probably be convinced to say on cheap money given his limited production but reasonable on-ice impact for a depth forward, and we’ve already covered the goaltending.
That leaves the free agents, of which the discussion seems a bit more clear:
- Jake DeBrusk
- Danton Heinen
- Patrick Maroon
- Kevin Shattenkirk
- Matt Grzelcyk
- Jayson Megna
- James Van Reimsdyk
- Derek Forbort
- Milan Lucic (technically)
While I appreciate all of them in their own way, the actual impact of each player at this point in time is…pretty stark. DeBrusk and Heinen have proven themselves more than worthy of returning to the Black and Gold; regardless of their individual foibles that fans latch onto. The rest have, and it sucks to say this about some of them, long outgrown the team, or are emblematic of decisions that don’t need to be repeated.
Of the group, I would say the only two who actually need to stay are DeBrusk and Heinen, which looks like at least half of that is already being put together, with Gryz as a distant maybe if you can determine whether or not what happened to his play this year was the result of an injury or a season long brain fart.
As for everyone else? Thanks for coming. Keep the sweater.
Can you pay for help on the Free Agent Market?
This one I can answer much more clearly than the others: Yes. In the short-term.
If there’s a crown jewel to UFA this year, it’s probably Sam Reinhart, who has yet to actually stop playing and will likely cost an arm and a leg if the Panthers do the thing (pause for vomit), or Steven Stamkos; whose reputation as a Tampa Bay Lightning may ultimately lead him to either staying, or commanding a price tag that far outstrips his current ability. Reinhart would be cool…it’s just deeply unlikely he’s signing with anyone other than Florida. That leaves a UFA crop that is both wing-heavy and defender-heavy if you’re looking to add, but there are a ton of valuable, impactful players in this UFA class.
Jake Guentzel would definitely make a half-decent Bruin, as well as guys like Anthony Mantha, who at long last came alive in his time with Washington and Vegas, Dylan DeMelo was one of the few Jets defenders who weren’t a complete tire fire, Brett Pesce has been a force multiplyer for the Canes for a while, if the Cats win the Oilers might get sad and forget to sign Warren Foegele and if they do the Bruins should get on that like right then and there. Those are just a few of the names that you can throw out that could theoretically make their way to a Black and Gold sweater, and very few of them would be the wrong answer!
The trick is, you will have to be very selective on term.
Of the top 50 UFA players available that are considered NHL regulars (filtered by more than 30 games played), a tremendous majority of the available players are on the wrong side of 25, and are often on the wrong side of 30. Many of these vets have ended up being stalwarts for several NHL teams by this point, and are likely looking for their final contract that will allow them to gracefully leave the league in peace. A good number of these players will likely get it if they’re smart about it. Boston has been burned by this practice in the past, and so should take care to keep their options open when shopping.
But…they absolutely still should consider shopping. While the high-end might be hard to find, the kind of winger who can be a reliable 20-25 goal-getter under the right circumstances could probably be found. They just have to get used to the idea that it isn’t going to be a long-term solution unless they get very lucky.
Can you trust the youth of today (in Providence)?
One of the ways the Boston Bruins can save a little money is to make a real concerted push into ensuring that a number of graduates from the Providence Bruins can fill the void left by any number of players that would leave the team. A good portion of them are RFAs who will likely receive their first real shot at NHL minutes, and as such would be both complete unknowns. The Bruins were able to find value in guys like Justin Brazeau, Marc McLaughlin, Mason Lohrei, Johnny Beecher, and Jakub Lauko this season as depth options and valuable fill-ins, and the same can be done in the upcoming year.
Minor problem; of the players in Providence after this season…pickings are a little slim.
The most impactful names Providence has right now are probably down to two players: Georgii Merkulov, who only got extremely limited time with Boston before being sent back down, and Fabian Lysell, a player who has existed as simultaneous highlight and frustration machine since making it to the P-B’s. After that…what’s left? Maybe McLaughlin, since he didn’t spent too much time in the NHL last year. After that, who do really have? John Farinacci? Sign Dans Locmelis and see if he’s improved significantly?
Admittedly, this is a question you can only find answer once the preseason starts, but I am not holding my breath on this one: I’ve seen the depth chart, I’ve seen the players with the best shots to make the NHL from Providence, and they’re probably already on the team now.
While I’m sure there are spots available, I don’t think long-term help is coming from the AHL this year.
That’s just how being a contender works; you keep trying to go for it and your cupboard suffers as a result. A push and pull that the Bruins now need to deal with.
But what about the draft?
The Boston Bruins’ first pick of the 2024 draft is in the fourth round and their last is in the 6th. Given how fast the draft is at that point, the Bruins may genuinely only spend about an hour at the Sphere.
Unless Don does something in the next four weeks to improve that position, or tries get into the first round, I hope you’ll forgive me that I haven’t been looking into the AlpsHL (or, let’s be honest with ourselves, the USHL) EliteProspects page looking for 6’2 guys going to the University of Miami of Ohio who might make a good depth guy in six years, in a draft that is thinner than my connection to the Marquis of Queensbury.
So to any middle round prospects or Don Sweeneys who may read this; Make me look stupid for not putting a lot of work into it! Force me to put some work at the last minute!
Hopefully, the Bruins, now fully into what we can call a transition period, can navigate this offseason with humility, grace…and try really, REALLY hard not to fall into any pitfalls of trying to avenge past playoff losses. There’s already teams in-division trying to do that.
But what about you? Where does your road map to the offseason begin?