While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Boston Bruins.
It was a bit of an up-and-down year for the Bruins. They found themselves scuffling midseason which resulted in long-time coach Claude Julien being let go with Bruce Cassidy taking over. That seemed to give them a lift as they worked their way into a playoff spot although they were ousted by Ottawa in the opening round. One key decision has already been made by GM Don Sweeney when he lifted the interim tag off of Cassidy shortly after being eliminated. What else will Boston be looking to accomplish this offseason?
New Deal For Pastrnak
After not taking a big step forward in his sophomore campaign, David Pastrnak changed that this past season in a big way. He more than doubled his point production and finished second in the team in goals and points behind only Brad Marchand. From a contractual standpoint, the breakout couldn’t have come at a better time as he’s slated to become a restricted free agent at the beginning of July.
Fortunately for Boston fans, progress is already being made on a new deal as Sweeney noted last week that talks were “moving in the right direction”. Both sides are believed to be interested in foregoing the short-term bridge contract and are focusing on a lengthy agreement.
Given the type of season he just had, the 21 year old is going to land a massive raise from the $925K he has earned each of the last three seasons. Based on some of the comparable contracts signed last summer (such as Calgary’s Sean Monahan, Nashville’s Filip Forsberg, and Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele), there’s a strong case to be made that Pastrnak could see his cap hit around the $6MM mark for next year and beyond.
Decide On Spooner’s Future
After a strong 2015-16 season, expectations were high for Ryan Spooner. Unfortunately for the Bruins, he didn’t live up to those expectations as his numbers took a dip across the board while seeing his ice time drop and his position changing from center to the wing most nights. He also found himself a healthy scratch at one point in the playoffs.
As the year progressed, Spooner found himself mentioned in trade talk on quite a few occasions, something that has carried over into the early goings of the offseason as well. It’s not surprising that there is interest around the league either as he’s just a year removed from a 49 point season and is still just 25 years old. His time in Boston appears to be at a crossroads though.
Sweeney needs to decide whether or not Spooner is part of the plans long-term. If so, then they’ll need to work out a new contract as the forward is heading for restricted free agency with arbitration eligibility. If not, there’s a good chance that he’ll be on the move between now and the NHL Entry Draft later this month and couple be dangled to fill a hole on their back end.
Add A Top Four Left Shot Blueliner
At the age of 40, captain Zdeno Chara has shown that he could stand to benefit from a reduced workload as he enters the final year of his contract. However, their depth on the left side isn’t particularly strong with only Torey Krug having proven himself as a top four defender. There is cause for optimism on the opposite side with youngsters Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy so the Bruins can focus on trying to add on the left side of the ice.
The free agent market isn’t particularly deep on the back end and while there are players who could slot into a second line role, most are only shorter-term solutions. Sweeney has already suggested the team isn’t likely to be too active in free agency which means they’ll likely turn to the trade market. Reports have Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin as a target although the Wild don’t appear to be ready to make a trade at the moment.
Boston has a lot going for them when it comes to seeking out a fit via trades. For starters, they have a fair bit of cap space to work with as they have roughly $62.5MM committed to 18 players via CapFriendly with Pastrnak and Spooner as their most prominent players to re-sign. They also have put together a strong prospect pool and could conceivably flip a couple for the right player. Sweeney didn’t cash in some of his prospect chips last summer but that could certainly change this time around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
The Bruins also need another scoring winger. They relied too much on Bergeron, Pastrnak & Marchand last season. They need to give Krejci some quality wingers. He needs a scorer to dish too. Playing Vatrano & Backes with Krejci just didn’t work. They have to do better than that on their 2nd line