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Looking At The Boston Bruins Salary Cap Crunch

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In a rundown of hockey news today, Matt Porter of the Boston Globe addressed, amongst other things, the Boston Bruins impending salary cap crunch, and speculated on what the organization could do to improve its situation (link). In sum, Porter says that even with Brad Marchand slated to miss time after surgery on both of his hips, presumably landing him on LTIR to start the season, and with Patrice Bergeron either not returning or perhaps taking a steep discount, Boston could still find itself up against the salary cap next season, not even considering any moves the team needs to make to improve.

As of right now, the Bruins are projected to have just $2.84MM in salary cap space next season, which does not factor in making any moves, or creating any additional space, like putting Marchand on LTIR. Though not over the cap, if Boston wants to improve or even return the same quality team to the ice, they will need to spend to do so, but would have to get creative with how they shed salary. One suggestion Porter makes is to buy out the contract of forward Nick Foligno, who has one-year at $3.8MM left on his contract. Doing so would reduce the cap hit to just $1.933MM next season and $930K after. Foligno has been a reliable point producer and excellent leader his entire career, however his production fell off sharply this season with Boston, tallying a mere two goals and 11 assists in 64 games.

Still a tremendous veteran presence for any team, his $3.8MM cap hit is tough to justify on a team as close to the ceiling as Boston. If the organization wants to eliminate his entire cap hit, they will likely find a market for which to trade him, however the veteran will have a 16-team no-trade list and dealing him would likely require the Bruins to send draft pick or prospect compensation with him. It might seem unlikely that Foligno would accept a trade from a perennial contender to, expectedly, a rebuilding team, however a team in the market to absorb Foligno’s salary would likely be able to give him the ice-time and role he might prefer, as well as a chance to be dealt to a competitive team at the trade deadline anyways.

Another suggestion from Porter would be to make a practical trade of a regular, albeit replaceable player, such as forward Craig Smith or defensemen Matt Grzelcyk or Mike Reilly. Smith, who has one more year at $3.1MM, has been a solid contributor for Boston since coming over from the Nashville Predators in free agency prior to the 2020-21 season, putting up a solid 16 goals and 20 assists in 74 games this season. With his solid play and reasonable cap hit, Boston should be able to find a partner in a Smith trade and even receive an asset in return. The Bruins could then replace Smith in-house with young options like Fabian Lysell, Oskar Steen, or Jack Studnicka, as Porter suggests.

As good as Reilly and Grzelcyk have been for the Bruins, Porter adds that they are very similar players, thus making one potentially expendable in the right situation. Both players have two more years remaining on their contracts, Reilly at a cap hit of $3MM and Grzelcyk at just under $3.69MM. In addition to having very similar styles of play, the two have also had remarkably similar production, both tallying 44 points over their previous two seasons, Grzelcyk doing so in 110 games, Reilly in 125. On the left side, the team does also have Derek Forbort under contract at $3MM for the next season, though he is not as remarkably similar to Grzelcyk and Reilly as those two are to one another. Trading any of the three would also not pose a hazard to Boston’s depth, as they also have the recently-acquired-and-extended Hampus Lindholm and 25-year-old Jakub Zboril, who is still awaiting his first job as an NHL-regular.

Finally, a seemingly obvious solution for Boston would be to trade forward Jake DeBrusk, who owns a $4MM cap hit through 2023-24, and notably asked for a trade earlier this season (link). After requesting the trade, DeBrusk continued to play hard, and well, for Boston, ultimately finishing the season with 25 goals and 17 assists in 77 games. For his career, DeBrusk has continually produced similar numbers outside of a poor, outlier 2020-21 season and at age-26 for most of next season, his contract represents solid value for whatever team has him. Trading DeBrusk might seem like a given, but if the winger possibly changed his mind or is willing to play out the remainder of his contract, keeping him may be a prudent decision for Boston considering his value. Though DeBrusk has the highest cap hit of any player discussed, ultimately when trying to build a competitive team under the salary cap, the salary cap hit is less important than the overall value the team is receiving on the deal.

Pacific Notes: Megna, Chiasson, Tanev

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Prior to their semi-final game against Finland today, the United States found themselves down another defenseman as it was revealed by Daily Faceoff’s Chris Peters (Twitter link) that Sharks defenseman Jaycob Megna had left the team to tend to a family emergency.  That left the Americans with just four healthy defensemen for the game while the team is out of available roster slots which meant they weren’t able to add Montreal blueliner Jordan Harris – who has skated with the team as an extra all tournament – to the roster.  Sam Lafferty and Riley Barber, both forwards, comprised the third pairing and will likely do so again on Sunday when they battle Czechia for the bronze while Finland and Canada go for gold.

More from the Pacific:

  • Earlier this week, a report surfaced that Canucks winger Alex Chiasson would be heading to Switzerland for next season. However, his agent Pat Morris told Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic (Twitter link) that the pending UFA has no intention of signing in Switzerland and intends to pursue an NHL contract this season with his first choice being to re-sign with Vancouver.  Chiasson will have to wait a while for that option to present itself as team president Jim Rutherford recently indicated that they won’t decide on whether or not to keep the 31-year-old until after free agency.  Chiasson had 13 goals and nine assists in 67 games this season.
  • On Friday, the extent of the injuries for Flames defenseman Chris Tanev was revealed – including a torn labrum and a dislocated shoulder. Today, the veteran told reporters, including Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link) that the recovery time for the labrum surgery he’ll be undergoing next week carries a recovery time of four to six months.  If things go well, the 32-year-old would be ready around the start of training camp but if the recovery time is towards the back end of that range, he could miss more than a month of the regular season.

Offseason Checklist: Buffalo Sabres

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The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those that were eliminated early in the postseason.  It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Buffalo.

It wasn’t a great year in the standings but things are looking up for the Sabres.  The team was much more competitive in Don Granato’s first season behind the bench and several of their young players made promising strides to show that brighter days could soon be on the horizon.  With that in mind, Buffalo’s checklist looks a bit different than it has in recent years as they should now begin the process of trying to add talent and emerge from their rebuild.

Sign A Veteran Goalie

At the moment, Buffalo has six goaltenders under contract.  Once the calendar flips to the new league year in July, that number drops to zero.  GM Kevyn Adams will be busy on that front, to say the least, both in terms of NHL and AHL signings.  Let’s look at the NHL situation here.

It’s widely expected that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen will be promoted from the minors to fill one of the two spots with Buffalo as he continues his development and the team continues to evaluate whether or not he’ll be the goalie of the future for them.  But the most games he has played in any of his professional seasons is 44.  Between that and the fact he has just 13 NHL appearances under his belt, it’s safe to say that he’s not yet ready to assume the true starting role.

As a result, Adams will be looking for a veteran that is capable of playing more than a typical backup role.  A short-term starter would make some sense or failing that, a platoon netminder to split time with Luukkonen would also work.  Craig Anderson is among Buffalo’s pending unrestricted free agents and it seems like re-signing the 41-year-old would be their preference as he fit in quite well in his first season with Buffalo.  It’s questionable if he can hold up under a higher workload than the 31 games he played in 2021-22 so if he is their choice, a veteran third-stringer to stash at AHL Rochester certainly would make some sense.

Decide Olofsson’s Future

Victor Olofsson has had an up-and-down tenure with Buffalo so far.  After a surprise showing in his rookie season that saw him put up 20 goals and 22 assists in just 54 games, the two sides settled on a bridge contract, a reasonable course of action.  The first year didn’t go well and for the majority of this season, things weren’t much better.  At the end of February, he had just seven goals in 44 games and looked like he could be heading for non-tender territory.

But once March hit, the 26-year-old suddenly rediscovered his scoring touch, potting 13 goals along with 12 assists in the final 28 games.  While the usual caveat about reading too much into production when a team is well out of playoff contention certainly applies, Olofsson may have shown enough to warrant another contract.

If that’s the case, what is the right deal?  This is Olofsson’s final year of RFA eligibility so it’s not as if they can work out a short-term pact and then re-assess before he’s UFA-eligible.  With him being unrestricted no matter what, a one-year contract isn’t ideal from Buffalo’s perspective while finding common ground on a long-term deal could be tricky given the year-to-year variability in his performance.

Olofsson is owed a $3.25MM qualifying offer and has arbitration eligibility this summer.  With a little over six weeks until qualifiers are due, Adams will need to make a decision on this front sooner than later.

Add Defensive Help

At the moment, Buffalo has just three defensemen signed for next season that are locks to make the opening roster.  They’re all aged 22 or younger in Rasmus Dahlin, Henri Jokiharju, and Owen Power.  That’s a solid cluster of young impact blueliners that are going to be around for a little while but they need some veteran support.

This is something that the Sabres haven’t really tried to address in recent years which is understandable with the team clearly more interested in being at the bottom of the standings than the top over that stretch.  Doing so allowed Dahlin and Jokiharju to log heavy minutes and play through some mistakes.

However, assuming their plan is to start to push forward with trying to get back to the playoffs after missing the postseason for an 11th straight year, they need some veterans capable of logging heavy minutes to work with these three.  In an ideal world, they find three of them, one to partner with each youngster which would allow someone like Mattias Samuelsson to see more AHL action.

That said, adding three impact blueliners would be a tall task for any team, especially since there aren’t a lot of them available in free agency this summer.  With more than ample cap space though, this seems like an area where Adams should have the green light to bid aggressively.  Three would be perfect, two would be nice, but one is simply a necessity if they want to help their goalies and more importantly, help their young rearguards find another level in their development.

Thompson Extension Talks

The first season of Tage Thompson’s bridge contract didn’t go well as he put up just 14 points in 38 games in 2020-21.  Heading into this season, expectations were quite low as a result.  If he could lock down a full-time spot and play with some consistency, it likely would have been viewed as a success.

But what the 24-year-old did in 2021-22 was far beyond realistic expectations, likely beyond even the most optimistic projections for Thompson as he put up 38 goals and 30 assists.  That goal total put him 19th in the entire league while he also made the transition to playing down the middle.  While it took several years, Thompson certainly showed the offensive promise that made him a first-round pick back in 2016.

Thompson’s timing for his offensive outburst was pretty optimal as well as he’s eligible to sign a contract extension once free agency opens up in mid-July and he officially enters the final year of his deal.  If Adams and the Sabres believe that Thompson’s performance is a sign of things to come, they will almost certainly try to work out an extension this summer as anything close to a repeat performance in 2022-23 will only drive the asking price higher.  Meanwhile, after being a depth player for the first few years of his career, the prospect of a big money, long-term extension might appeal to Thompson.  This is something that doesn’t have to happen but it wouldn’t be surprising to see both sides take a run at an extension in the coming months.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Suffers Fractured Foot At World Championship

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It was a disappointing World Championship on a couple of fronts for Vancouver defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Sweden blew a 3-0 lead in the third period to Canada on Thursday before falling in overtime and to add to that frustration, he was also injured as the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that he suffered a foot fracture in the tournament.

The veteran blueliner had a fairly quiet first season in Vancouver after coming over in a trade back at the draft last summer.  He picked up 29 points in 79 games, his lowest point per game average since his rookie year back in 2010-11.  Regardless, Ekman-Larsson still played over 22 minutes a game, second on the team to only Quinn Hughes while also taking a regular turn on both the power play and penalty kill.  He was similarly quiet at the Worlds, collecting just a pair of assists for Sweden in their six games while logging 19:20 per contest, third among their blueliners.

Fortunately for Ekman-Larsson and the Canucks, the recovery time for this injury is four to six weeks which means while his offseason training will be interrupted, he should be fully recovered by the time training camp rolls around in September.  Vancouver will likely be icing a similar back end to the one they had this season so they’ll be counting on Ekman-Larsson to have a bounce-back season in 2022-23.

Blues Assign Charlie Lindgren To AHL

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While the season has come to an end for the Blues, at least one player will play on for a little while longer as goaltender Charlie Lindgren has been sent back to Springfield of the AHL, per the AHL’s transactions log.  He had been serving as the backup to Ville Husso after Jordan Binnington was injured earlier in their second-round series against Colorado.

The 28-year-old had his best professional campaign this season, posting a 2.21 GAA and a .925 SV% in 34 games with the Thunderbirds, both career bests.  On top of that, he also impressed in his limited NHL action, putting up a stellar 1.22 GAA with a .958 SV% in five appearances with St. Louis, numbers that had some wondering if the Blues might have considered giving Lindgren a chance against Colorado over sticking with Husso.  But with just 29 career NHL games under his belt, sticking with Husso certainly made sense.

Lindgren will now have a chance to reclaim the starting job with the Thunderbirds as they look to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals against his former team in Laval, the affiliate of the Canadiens.  With a good finish to his AHL playoffs plus his performance during the regular season, Lindgren should have a strong market this summer in unrestricted free agency as a veteran third-string goaltender that can be called on to make a few NHL starts when injuries arise.

East Notes: Flyers, Ruotsalainen, Beaulieu

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The Flyers are expected to interview Jim Montgomery for their vacant head coaching position next week, reports Sam Carchidi of Philly Hockey Now.  Montgomery has been an assistant in St. Louis since 2020 and with the Blues being eliminated last night, teams can now talk to him about their coaching vacancies.  Montgomery has some NHL head coaching experience under his belt having coached Dallas for parts of two seasons before being let go for unprofessional conduct which he later revealed was related to his battle with alcoholism.  John Tortorella and Barry Trotz are among those that are believed to have already interviewed for Philadelphia’s vacant position.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Following Rochester’s elimination in the AHL, Sabres winger Arttu Ruotsalainen told reporters, including Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News, that his intention is to re-sign with Buffalo and not go to the Swiss League as has been previously suggested. Assistant GM Jason Karmanos also stated a desire to keep the 24-year-old in the fold.  Ruotsalainen, who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer, had four points in 18 games with Buffalo this season but was quite productive in the minors, notching 51 points in 57 contests while tying for the team lead in playoff scoring.
  • After acquiring Nathan Beaulieu at the trade deadline, Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review suggests it’s likely that the defenseman will leave the Penguins without ever suiting up for them. Pittsburgh picked him for a conditional draft pick that they ultimately retained as the conditions weren’t met.  Beaulieu was added as injury insurance for the playoffs and while he was close to suiting up, he wound up being a healthy scratch in the postseason after being activated off LTIR.  The 29-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and after playing in just 24 games with Winnipeg this season while averaging less than 11 minutes a game, it’s unlikely the 2011 first-rounder will be able to command much more than the minimum salary.

Prospect Notes: Lamb, Ruscheinski, Hubner

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It has been a discouraging offseason for the University of Minnesota. The program reached the Frozen Four this year, but somehow has been bleeding assets since the end of the season. Chaz Lucius (WPG) turned pro suddenly and unexpectedly, brother Cruz Lucius (2022) decommitted, and Tristan Broz (PIT), Ben Brinkman (DAL), and Grant Cruikshank all transferred out. The Gophers need reinforcements and have turned to a 2023 recruit for help. The Rink Live reports that New York Rangers prospect Brody Lamb has fast-forwarded his development plan to enroll at Minnesota this fall instead of next fall. The 18-year-old forward, who was drafted by the Rangers in the fourth round in 2021, had planned to return to the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers for another season, but was willing to help out his college team sooner than expected. Lamb’s second-half surge helped to convince Minnesota that he was ready for the NCAA; Lamb finished his first full junior season with 41 points in 62 games. While he could use another year of junior and likely would have been a top-line forward for Green Bay in 2022-23, he will instead slot into a bottom-six role with the Gophers. Minnesota and New York alike hope this change is only positive for the young forward’s development.

  • After three years, former Montreal Canadiens prospect Kieran Ruscheisnki has finally found an NCAA home. The 2019 seventh-round pick announced that he has committed to none other than the newest addition to Division I hockey, Lindenwood University. The Habs took a shot on Ruscheinski as a raw defensive prospect due to size that you can’t teach; the 21-year-old stands 6’6″ and weighs in at 210 pounds, which will likely still go up under a collegiate strength and conditioning program. In three seasons with the BCHL’s Salmon Arm Gorillas, Ruscheisnki has not made many strides offensively, but has continued to improve his defensive game as he develops into a stay-at-home style of blue liner. Though these defensive types are rarely stars, Ruscheinski being a former NHL pick will be massive news at Lindenwood. The Lions now have an NHL draft pick on their team in their inaugural season, something that many far more established teams in Division I cannot say in most years.
  • 2022 NHL Draft-eligible defenseman Niklas Hubner is on the move. The German prospect’s current team, the DEL’s ERC Ingolstadt, has revealed that Hubner is not expected to be back next season as he plans to make the jump to North America. Hubner is not NCAA-eligible, having played professionally this season, but should be the target of CHL teams in the Import Draft. He made a strong case for himself to be selected in both drafts this season; Hubner recorded 27 points in 28 games for Ingolstadt’s U-20 team. He essentially forced the team’s hand, as Hubner was recalled to the top DEL squad due to that performance, playing in ten games and recording a point. Hubner also suited up for Germany at the U-18 World Juniors and his play this season could put him on the radar for the U-20 team at the rescheduled WJC this summer. Hubner may be a bit of a project pick with so little experience outside of Germany, but with good size and clear scoring ability the defenseman is at least an interesting project to undertake.

Shane Wright Not A Lock To Go First Overall To Montreal

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As soon as the Montreal Canadiens emerged victorious from the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery, many were quick to crown center Shane Wright as the next Habs star – but is the first overall pick truly a foregone conclusion? Wright is the consensus top player in the draft, but is not quite the homerun prospect that leads some draft classes. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman and Max Bultman sat down with Montreal beat writers Arpon Basu and Marc Antoine Godin on The Athletic Hockey Show and the group did not reach the same consensus that Wright will absolutely be selected first overall. Of course, Wright is certainly the favorite; the Kingston Frontenacs captain does everything well and plays a mature, two-way, team-first game that is always attractive in a young player. Wright recorded 94 points in 63 games in the OHL this season even after not playing last season during the league’s closure. Wright’s development and ability are not in question and, though every team wants a franchise center, Montreal does have an immediate need of a top-six center and Wright could be ready to go. With all that being said, the group discussed that Wright did not exactly shatter scoring expectations this season and his inconsistent effort at times has drawn criticism. It begs the question that if Wright is not an elite offense talent and doesn’t possess an elite work ethic, is there more upside elsewhere on the board?

Another center option could be USNTDP standout Logan Cooley, and while he won’t play in the NHL next season as he heads to the University of Minnesota, there is also some belief that Wright could also return to junior next year due to his lost season in 2020-21. Cooley is also a two-way pivot with a well-rounded game and a minority of pundits feel he does have more offensive potential than Wright. The group also mentioned that a future top-pair defenseman is a need for the Canadiens and Simon Nemec or David Jiricek could meet that description. However, neither appears to be in the mix for first overall and the Habs are almost certainly not going to trade down from No. 1 in a draft hosted in Montreal. As such, the group lands on upstart winger Juraj Slafkovsky as the most likely alternative to Wright as the Canadiens’ top choice. Though wingers are largely considered to be less valuable than centers, Slafkovsky’s draft stock has skyrocketed this season to a point where it would not be as great a shock to see him surpass Wright. The big Slovakian forward is arguably the more dynamic offensive player and even more he has proven it at a number of levels this year. Slafkovsky recorded 10 points in 31 games plus seven points in 18 playoff games with TPS in the Liiga, Finland’s top pro league. He added 18 points in 11 games with their U-20 team. Yet it is internationally where he really shined; Slafkovsky was named MVP of the Olympic tournament with seven goals in seven games for Slovakia and then recorded nine points in eight games at the World Championship (where Habs GM Kent Hughes was reportedly scouting him.)

Hughes and company also present an interesting twist in the decision at No. 1. Hughes and Director of Hockey Operations Jeff Gorton are both new to Montreal, as are head coach Martin St. Louis and highly valued advisor Vincent Lecavalier. Not only are they playing catch-up on draft analysis, but they are also bringing new and potentially contrary viewpoints from the existing scouting and analytics staffs for the Canadiens. The group opined that the odds of all of these key decision makers being in agreement on the pick is unlikely, and if Wright is not the top option for Hughes or Gorton then that certainly opens up the conversation. It is worth noting that Hughes, Gorton, and St. Louis all have close ties to USA Hockey, which could be a boost for Cooley, while their scouting department is majority European, which could benefit Slafkovsky.

At the end of the day, Wright remains the heavy favorite to be selected first overall, as he has all season. However, it is not the guarantee that it is in some seasons or that many expected it to be this year – and it worth knowing that other options exist. With the 2022 NHL Draft being held in Montreal, the drama around the Canadiens’ top pick will be entertaining at the very least and the reaction should they take Slafkovsky or Cooley instead of Wright will be fascinating. Montreal is in difficult shape with an expensive, veteran lineup that did not produce this season and certainly cannot afford to miss on this pick.

NHL Announces Conference Final Schedule Scenarios

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After one-half of the conference finalists have been set, the NHL has released the potential schedule matrix for the 2022 Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

No matter what, the Eastern Conference Final will start June 1, whether it be in Raleigh or Manhattan. The Tampa Bay Lightning will be the visitor after sweeping the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers in the Second Round. The Lightning actually finished with the same point total as the New York Rangers (110), but surrender the tiebreaker, so it’s impossible for them to start the series at home. They would also start on the road against the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes. The Eastern Conference Final will be televised on ESPN in the United States.

For the Western Conference, the schedule depends on the result of tonight’s Game 6 between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. If Colorado is victorious tonight, the series will start on May 31st in Denver. If it goes to a Game 7, the Edmonton Oilers will travel to either Denver or St. Louis for Game 1 on June 2. In the United States, the Western Conference Final will be on TNT.

The last possible day for Conference Final action is June 15, with a potential Western Conference Final Game 7 between the Oilers and either the Avalanche or Blues.

Brad Marchand Undergoes Hip Surgery

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There’s some significant injury news in Beantown after the team was eliminated in the First Round a couple of weeks ago. The Boston Bruins announced today that star forward Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both of his hips. The recovery process is slated to take six months, making it likely Marchand is out for nearly the first two months of the 2022-23 regular season.

Marchand’s projected unavailability next season only adds to what’s bound to be an offseason of chaos for the Bruins. With the future of captain Patrice Bergeron up in the air, the team can’t really have a plan yet of how to attack the offseason and free agency.

On the ice, losing Marchand for any amount of time is a staggering blow for this Bruins team. Not only does Marchand bring all the intangibles that he’s so well known for, but he also remains one of the most offensively skilled left-wingers in the league. He scored 80 points in 70 games last season for his sixth straight season above a point per game pace.

Off the ice, moving Marchand to long-term injured reserve for the start of the regular season could buy the Bruins some time. The team has under $3MM in cap space this offseason, and while they have few roster spots to replace, the aging team needs to modify their roster to stay competitive in a tough Atlantic Division. Most importantly, there’s the matter of re-signing or replacing Bergeron, and the latter option will likely be much more costly. If the Bruins can buy some more cap space for the start of the season, it would allow them a few months into the year to figure out some trade scenarios for players to free up space.

Regardless, at 34 years old, the Bruins just hope Marchand is able to rebound to his previous level of play after what was a decently intensive surgery.

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