Earlier today, an independent arbitrator settled the contract for goaltender Jeremy Swayman and the Boston Bruins, awarding the young goaltender a one-year, $3.475MM contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Now that Swayman has a contract for next year and much of the heavy lifting of the offseason is already concluded, the Bruins currently find themselves with roughly $429k in cap space to start the season.
Boston has already used one buyout this offseason, buying out the final one-year, $3MM left on the contract of defenseman Mike Reilly’s contract. The team will now have a second buyout window opening in three days, which the team may utilize, but is incredibly unlikely due to the eligible player requirements. The player must have been on the team’s reserve list at last year’s trade deadline, and must also have a cap hit of $4MM or more on their current contract. Of the current roster on the Bruins currently carrying a cap hit of $4MM or more, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, and Linus Ullmark are the only ones that make the cut.
Given that Boston is unlikely to cut ties with one of the players listed above for absolutely nothing in return, the team might have to look to the trade market to free up more salary. This notion has already been backed up by recent reporting, given that General Manager Cam Neely has already mentioned the team would be looking to bolster their center depth after legendary center Patrice Bergeron announced his retirement and a similar outcome is expected for center David Krejci.
In a creative solution, the Bruins’ best trade partner may be the Calgary Flames, with both Elias Lindholm and Mikael Backlund available for the right price. After already moving forward Tyler Toffoli this summer, and Lindholm and Backlund unsure about their future in Alberta, the Flames may take a similar approach with those two players as well.
If the Bruins do land an impact center such as Lindholm, they may have to become more amicable about moving out the contract of Coyle or Carlo. It will be difficult, given Coyle’s leadership in the postseason as well as Carlo’s incredible defensive play over the last several years, but it may be the prudent move going forward for this organization.
Similar to last year’s true ’hockey’ trade involving Matthew Tkachuk, a swap of Coyle and Carlo to the Flames for Lindholm and possibly Nikita Zadorov may be the wise decision for both teams. Coyle and Carlo would fill in roster spots for Calgary without totally eliminating their winning potential for next season, as well as give them some contract term to hang on to. For the Bruins, it would likely be a wash, as Lindholm fills a top-six role much better than Coyle, but Zadorov would be a downgrade from the play of Carlo. Given that both Lindholm and Zadorov will be UFA’s at season’s end, and with the expected salary cap increase at the same time, the Bruins will have more financial flexibility to sign these players to extensions as well.
If anything, given the Bruins’ free agent signings this offseason, they should have the defensive depth to absorb the loss of Carlo with both Kevin Shattenkirk and Ian Mitchell joining the roster as well. However, they will need to make an upgrade at the center position before next season starts if they have any hope of competing in the Atlantic Division. The division already holds the defending Eastern Conference Champion Florida Panthers, as well as the extremely talented Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs. A team led by Pastrnak, Marchand, and McAvoy should never be counted out of contention, but the growing sense is that Boston will need to make a move to cut salary, as well as find a center in hopes of replacing the production vacated by Bergeron and Krejci.
Looks like there’s still some spice left in this offseason
Carlo has a 16-team no-trade clause & I would bet that Calgary & probably all of the Canadian teams would be part of that list. He isn’t going to Calgary in a trade for Lindholm. Trading Carlo makes little sense because they don’t have a right-shot d-man to take his place. Mitchell would be a huge down grade & Zadorov would be another left shot d & the Bruins have too many of those as it is. Adding Zadorov makes zero sense for the Bruins
I like Calgary’s Lindholm as a player and talent, but this idea is purely speculation. There is a large group of players ( and teams) Boston could target in a trade. And parting with Coyle certainly will not be a favorable move with the fan base. If the Bruins can’t make a deal, they likely need to use the buyout window.
I like Lindholm & think he would be a good fit with the way he plays, but I have a hard time finding a match trade wise for the Bruins. Swayman is probably the best trade chip the Bruins have & he wouldn’t be of interest to Calgary because they already have Wolff waiting in the wings.
Swayman to Chicago who needs a young goalie for the Bedard window. Chicago sends picks to Boston, which they use to get Lindholm.
Should have moved Ullmark at the draft. Replenished some depth and draft capital traded away for the recent failed cup runs. They underestimated the ceiling of Swayman. Badly.
Ullmark has a 16 team no-trade list. That limits his market. Everyone overestimates Ullmark’s trade value. It really isn’t that high despite winning the Vezina last season
Swayman and Debrusk and for JT Miller
Boston will have to clear less than a million in another trade or send someone down.
Why would Canucks want sway man when they have Demko? And DeBrusk is Calgary-bound… I’m all for moving JT but his salary doesn’t fit in Boston & the pieces above are inadequate IMO
Terrible trade for Boston. As a Bruins fan, I don’t want any part of Miller’s contract. That’s a deal that is only going to get worse as it goes along. Rather keep DeBrusk than take that deal.
I’m not convinced that the Bruins trade DeBrusk. I think they try to extend him before they trade him. Trading DeBrusk just creates another hole in the lineup. Sure, you add Lindholm to fill the #1 center role, but you then create a 50 point hole by moving DeBrusk with nobody to replace that production. The Bruins are a tough spot with no easy solution
Johnny, both teams must agree on any trade. New concept instituted right about the same time that the first trade offer was made decades back.
It’s the Don Sweeney trainwreck coming to a city near you in October!!!!!
c’mon, use your head.
I’ve already mentioned that I think the Bruins should stand pat, won’t reiterate that. Certainly Lindholm is a fine player, but is he so very excellent that he offsets the holes that trading (say) Coyle/DeBrusk + Carlo would open up? No.
As far as “OMG Boston needs a center or they’ll miss the playoffs!!” goes, cast your memories back to last fall, where the media consensus was that the Bruins would miss the playoffs. Whereupon they went on to win more regular season games than any other team in the history of professional hockey. They’re obviously not going to win a Cup this year, but they’re also not guaranteed to be a lottery pick either.
Put Marchand on the market and see what happens.
The nhl really should adopt the nfl thing about reworking contracts to create cap space especially in a league that has such a small cap ceiling it would help the league and players so much
Charlie Coyle is an overpriced career sub .50 Corsi depth piece at 31 years old making $4.5M/per. He has more value to the Bruins than any other team with his leadership and local ties.
Elias Lindholm makes more, already, and is a proven scorer looking for a new contract in his prime. The names don’t belong in the same sentence. You don’t trade a #3C and a 3-4D for a legit #1 C under any circumstances, but particularly when CAL already showed some weak offense last year.
I suggest this trade: Ryan Strome (C) $5M + 2nd draft pick 2024 Anaheim Ducks in exchange to Derek Forbot ($3M), Jakub Zboril ($1.1M) and Oskar Steen ($0.8M). The 3rd line defensman could be Lohrei and Shattenkirk.
Should we go with the proposed trade?
If I’m Sweeney, sure, I go for that like a shot.
If I’m Pat Verbeek, and I make that deal, I SHOULD be shot.
Fills a need for Boston but not a lot of upside for the ducks