The Boston Bruins have reached an agreement with one of their young forwards, signing Joona Koppanen to a one-year, two-way extension for the 2022-23 season. The deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K, and allows Koppanen to avoid restricted free agency for at least one more year.
Koppanen, 24, was a fifth-round pick of the Bruins in 2016 and has been slowly developed through their system for the last several years. The 6’5″ project is now coming off his best season as a pro, with 11 goals and 30 points in 62 games. The fact that the team already handed him a one-year extension shows just how invested they are in his development, and points to a potential debut with the NHL club at some point down the road.
When you’re as big as Koppanen, you don’t always need to bring elite offensive play to the table every night to be able to make an impact. While he’s certainly not your prototypical bruiser–in fact he sometimes could stand to be more physical–he has still come a long way in his overall game and was getting closer to an NHL call-up even this season.
With the Bruins needing depth more than ever, given the free agency of Patrice Bergeron and the absence of Brad Marchand to start the year, perhaps Koppanen can grab a fourth-line spot to start the year.
Eh, AHL teams need third-liners too!
Please for the love of all things good, can the Bruins stop signing vets for $3+ mil when they can get the same production from ELC guys??
This guy could replace Foligno right now. Studnicka should be on the 4th line ahead of Foligno…
Lohrei can provide as much offense as Reilly and maybe Gryz…. And he’s 6’4”….
Merkulov also looks good and looks like a good middle six guy too.
Lysell can replace DeBrusk.
With Marchy likely on LTIR, that’s a total of ~$21mil they could get off the books ($6.5, $4, $3.8, $3.8, $3) and mostly replaced with ELC guys they have RIGHT NOW. Even with Marchy coming off LTIR later in the year they’d have about $14.5 to resign Bergy and improve the roster. If they move Coyle they’d have even more money to throw around and get a guy like Trochek or Scheifele.
Marchy-Bergy-Pasta —> $18.5
Hall-Trochek-Smith —> $16.5
Lysell-Haula-Merkulov —> $4.5
Frederic-Nosek-Studnicka —> $3.75
Lindholm-McAvoy —> $16
Lohrei-Carlo —> $5
Zboril-Forbort —> $4
Swayman-Ullmark —> $6
Offense —> $43.25
Defense —> $25
Goalie —> $6
Depth —> $???
Total —> $74.25 ($82.5 cap limit – $8.25 mil to play with for depth and roster improvement not including Marchy on LTIR).
If you are not careful, NHL owners are going to recognize that you know everything about running a team and be pounding on your door with job offers.
ewww… you’re not good at fantasy GM
Deal a pick to get Foligno off the books then trade DeBrusk to get that pick back. All of a sudden that’s $7.8 in cap space off the books and replaced immediately with more ice time for Frederic and signing Lysell to ELC.
Get what you can for Reilly and Gryz for additional assets. Maybe a 3rd for Gryz and 4th for Reilly? That’s another 6.8 off the books and replaced with Lohrei and a healthy Zboril.
Move Coyle for additional assets…. Maybe a 2nd rounder? That’s 5.25 off the books.
For those counting at home that’s $19.85 off the books for a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and not sacrificing much in terms of production.
Use the $$$ saved to sign Bergy to $5.5/year for 2 years and upgrade 2C by signing Trochek (which would really help Hall and Smith on the 2nd line) at maybe $7.5. That’s $13/mil total which means $6.85 to play with for depth and doesn’t include Marchy on LTIR.
So Lohrei can’t play because he’s in college for atleast this year. I believe Lysell is a right wing so there’s Smiths replaced because he should be in the maybe get something for him list, Gryz is hurt so he won’t be traded but I’d look at seeing what you can get for Carlo to, get big right dman who hits and fights Eric Gubranson from Calgarys free agents and he’s Forborts 3rd line partner, get Middleton whose an RFA from Minnesota for 2nd line left side whose a beast and UFA Nikita Zadorov from Calgary who plays both sides but would be right side 2nd line.
Lindholm-McAvoy
Middleton-Zadorov
Forbort-Gubranson
Just got bigger, stronger, and less likely to get pushed around.
Had to read up on Lohrei… looks like he’s headed back to NCAA for next year so good call… maybe he’ll change his mind?
I flipped Merkulov and Lysell. DeBrusk has been playing off-wing anyway so it might actually be better than having DeBrusk play out of position.
Another good call on Gryz… didn’t realize he was going to likely miss the start of the season. That sucks for moving him (and also makes moving another dman less likely, which also sucks).
Love the idea of moving Carlo… he tries to be a puck moving defenseman but he’s just not that guy and he doesn’t use his size. With that said, he’s pretty good for his cap hit so he might fetch a good return. Saw an article that said DeBrusk and Carlo for Dach but if I were the Hawks I wouldn’t do that deal, no way… it’d almost feel like the Bruins giving up too soon Seguin.
It’s very unlikely the Bruins place an offer sheet on Middleton since teams rarely target RFAs… look at Hurricanes and Habs as the most recent example… it crushes relations between organizations. Would be nice to see more offer sheets though.
I like the idea of adding more size and grit to the backend like the old McQuaid/Boychuk days of not so long ago but I’m just not sure Zadorov and Gudbranson are the exact solution for that. I think they’re too much of a liability tbh, but yes, give me some stay-at-home, punch-your-teeth-in, shutdown guys that can wear a team down.
Any way you write it up, the Bruins need to make a lot of changes this off-season and I hope it starts with moving Foligno, DeBrusk, and Reilly and resigning Bergy to at least a two year deal.