Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs.  For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Boston.

There were some question marks surrounding the Bruins heading into the season after they lost both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci.  However, they nearly won the Atlantic Division once again to bring their playoff streak to eight straight years.  Boston got past Toronto in the opening round before falling to Florida in the second round.  Armed with cap and roster flexibility for the first time in a while, GM Don Sweeney has a chance to reshape the roster or to keep the bulk of the core together.  Here’s what should be on their to-do list in the coming weeks.

Add Impact Center

After losing their top two middlemen from the year before, the Bruins didn’t do a whole lot to replace them.  Morgan Geekie came over after being non-tendered by Seattle while John Beecher and Matthew Poitras came up from the minors and the OHL respectively to largely fill the other vacancy.  In the meantime, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha covered the tough minutes.  All things considered, they cobbled together a solution relatively well given their cap constraints.

Now they don’t have those constraints; they have over $21MM in cap room, per CapFriendly.  They now have an opportunity – and a need – to try to address that.  While their internal options fared well, they’re not a group of middlemen that a contender typically has.

There aren’t any true number one options on the open market this summer but there are some proven second options that can at least give them some more impactful depth.  They were speculatively linked to Elias Lindholm last summer and it stands to reason they’ll have interest in someone who can cover the hard two-way minutes like Bergeron used to.

Among the secondary options are Chandler Stephenson, Sean Monahan, and Matt Duchene.  All three have had success on the second line recently and have some upside at the offensive end.  They might not produce more than the 60 and 59 points that Coyle and Zacha put up but a third middleman in that range would lengthen their offense and hedge against some injuries.

In theory, they could try to trade for a center but given the dearth of trade assets they have (a byproduct of going for it regularly), it’s hard to see them putting together a package that could land a top-six piece so turning to free agency should be the way they go.

Goalie Decisions

For the last couple of years, the Bruins have had a high-end goalie tandem between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, allowing them to have starting-level goaltending on a nightly basis.  However, it’s about to become a luxury that’s too expensive for them to afford.

Swayman and the Bruins couldn’t agree on a contract last season, resulting in the two sides going to arbitration where he was awarded $3.475MM.  Now, with another strong campaign under his belt, Swayman’s camp has a much better case this time around and will be heading for another big raise.  Another one-year deal would push past the $5MM mark but it’s evident that both sides will want to get a longer-term agreement done this time around.  A deal that buys multiple years of club control should cost at least $6MM while a max-term agreement probably pushes past $7MM, doubling his price from this season.

With that type of commitment to Swayman, Ullmark becomes a very expensive second option with one year and $5MM left on his deal.  While they have enough cap room to carry both, that’s not necessarily the best use of their cap space with the other spots they’ll be looking to fill on their roster.  That means they’ll be turning to the trade market as they had looked to back at the trade deadline when Ullmark is believed to have nixed a trade with his partial protection.

Ullmark will still have the ability to block a trade to nearly half the league this summer so it’s not a given that something will get done with Boston’s preferred option.  It’s unfortunate for them that Ullmark will be in the market at a time where he’s not likely to be viewed as the number one option available and, in general, goalies don’t typically yield high-end returns too frequently.  But they should find the best offer they can get in the next couple of weeks to get this taken care of before free agency opens up as they’ll then know if they were able to fill a need with the swap or, if it’s a futures-based package, if they’ll have other assets to trade to fill one of those needs.

Sweeney will also have to decide if they’ll go with rookie Brandon Bussi as the second-string option behind Swayman next season or if they want to bring in a more experienced veteran.  If they don’t get a veteran to serve as the backup in the NHL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go after a veteran third-stringer to partner with Michael DiPietro in the minors.

Re-Sign Or Replace DeBrusk

Jake DeBrusk’s future with the Bruins has been murky for several years, going back to his trade request, extension, and the eventual rescinding of that request.  But even after that time, his name was floated out as potential salary-matching ballast in hypothetical scenarios where Boston was landing a more impactful winger or help down the middle.

One way or the other, the uncertainty is coming to an end over the next couple of weeks.  DeBrusk is now a pending unrestricted free agent and is one of the younger players to hit the open market next month.  Accordingly, the time has come for the Bruins to decide if he’s part of their future plans which would require a long-term commitment and remove him from any trade speculation.  Alternatively, he’ll be parting ways in early July and Sweeney will be on the lookout for a replacement.

The 27-year-old has reached the 40-point mark five times in his seven-year career but has only hit the 50-point plateau once back in 2022-23.  Still, he’s in line for a sizable raise from the $4MM he made over the past two seasons.  A long-term agreement could conceivably push past $6MM if the open market is as strong as some are making it out to be.  Boston has the money to pay that if they want or they could take that offer and look at some other options on the open market.

There are a few wingers who should check in around that price point in free agency.  Tyler Toffoli, Vladimir Tarasenko, and David Perron are shorter-term options if they don’t want to make a long-term commitment at that spot while Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi (someone who has some familiarity with the team already) could command longer-term agreements.  Viktor Arvidsson could be a good fit as well but coming off an injury-prone year, he might want just a one-year deal to bolster his market value for 2025-26.  Either way, whether it’s re-signing or replacing DeBrusk, the Bruins have a big contract to hand out on the wing.

Add Depth

Last summer, the Bruins had several roster spots to fill for cheap, resulting in a lot of short-term contracts for role players.  Included among those were James van Riemsdyk, Danton Heinen, Milan Lucic, and Kevin Shattenkirk, all of whom are set to return to the open market this summer so Sweeney will likely be looking to follow a similar script this time around.

Up front, they have at least two and arguably as many as four spots to fill as Pat Maroon is also a pending UFA.  They won’t necessarily be as limited in terms of having to shop for players who will accept close to the league minimum although if they are able to land an impact center and either keep or replace DeBrusk, they will have to go bargain-hunting at some point.  The good news for them is that there will be plenty of players that will be in that price range.  They may not all sign quickly but Sweeney should be able to fill those spots.

On the back end, with Mason Lohrei showing that he’s ready for full-time NHL duty, the acquisition of Andrew Peeke at the trade deadline, and Parker Wotherspoon holding his own, they really only have to fill one spot even with Shattenkirk, Matt Grzelcyk, and Derek Forbort all heading for the open market.  As a result, they could target someone a little higher in price that could play in a fourth or fifth role.  It also wouldn’t be shocking to see an extra depth defender added to battle for the seventh spot.  Again, there are a lot of blueliners who fit into these buckets so they should be able to take care of this one fairly easily.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.