JeremySwayman is the future master of the blue paint for the Boston Bruins. Everything he has done in 9 NHL games this season is worthy of phenom status. His numbers to date are even better then the shiny numbers he put up in the AHL through his first 9 games.
Not since FrankBrimsek have the Bruins had such a promising young netminder and I say that with all due respect to TuukkaRask.
The numbers are eye popping: 9 games played, 7 wins, 2 losses, a goals-against-average of 1.44 and a save-percentage of .946 and two shutouts in those 9 matches.
Swayman is having fun. He’s smiling, laughing, engaging in a friendly manner with the on-ice officials and contrary to what any other goalie who has ever played in the shootout era NHL, loves shootouts. The personality is there, the calmness is there and most importantly, the skill is there.
It’s almost a foregone conclusion that if something were to happen to Rask in the playoffs, or if he needs a game off here or there, that Swayman will likely man the net for the Bruins over JaroslavHalak.
But this is where we have to put on the brakes. It may very well be that the business side of hockey is what determines Swayman’s status for the 2021-22 season.
If you are a believer that General Manager DonSweeney will bring Rask back and re-sign him, which this writer believes to be the case, that signing won’t happen until after the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. The reasoning for waiting is a simple one: They wouldn’t have to protect Rask from being selected by Kraken GM RonFrancis and could then protect DanVladar.
The situation is a simple one then with Rask, Vladar and Swayman in the fold for next season. Only one of the three is waiver exempt for the 2021-22 season and that’s Swayman.
I’m not so sure Sweeney wants to risk losing Vladar on the waiver wire – and truth be told, there would be more then a few teams interested. Sweeney took a risk after the Vegas Golden Knights expansion trying to sneak MalcolmSubban through waivers and he lost as the Golden Knights nabbed him. That forced Sweeney to go out and sign undrafted free agent netminder KyleKeyser who I might add, I also believe in.
The only safe bet and protection Sweeney has is to have Rask and Vladar man the net for the Bruins while Swayman gets to be the guy in Providence.
No doubt the general consensus is going to be “Dom has lost his mind.” Maybe so. But I ask you to put yourself in Sweeney’s shoes. Are you going to risk losing a goaltender that you’ve invested 6 years on to develop him to this point? And a goaltender who at worst could be a capable NHL backup and form a tandem with Swayman in the future?
TSP contributing editor Dominic Tiano brings an interesting perspective on the future of No. 74 on the Boston Bruins. Truth in lending- he wrote and submitted this yesterday before the win over the NY Rangers and Jake DeBrusk’s fifth goal of the season off the rush. This was also written before any of us saw DeBrusk’s honest and open response to the media about his struggles this season. So- take it all in context, but that doesn’t change the fact that the economics of hockey will eventually force the Bruins to make some hard decisions.- KL
I think if you were to ask that question, the majority of fans would say “yes, it’s time to move on from JakeDeBrusk.”
By nature, I am a very patient person and would likely wait until things get back to some sense of normalcy in the world, hopefully next season, before passing judgement. On the other hand, I trust General Manager DonSweeney to make whatever decision he makes.
NESN analyst and former Bruins netminder AndrewRaycroft had an interesting thought on his MorningBru Podcast with fellow analyst BillyJaffe. Raycroft suggested that for a single person, not having a wife or kids or a family to go home to and live under the NHL COVID Protocol rules might be having an effect on JDB74. It’s also something Jaffe has spoken about throughout the season.
There is some merit to that and I will admit it is something that has crossed my mind. But while I considered it, I thought to myself, well, it hasn’t affected JakubZboril, or JeremyLauzon or to a lessor extent, JeremySwayman.
I quickly reminded myself that not everyone handles adversity, or stress in the same manner and that it could have an adverse effect on DeBrusk. But is that on DeBrusk or is that on the team for not making sure the player is dealing with the circumstances as best he can? The truth is we don’t know. We have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.
There is a segment of Bruins followers that believe that the downfall began with the concussion DeBrusk suffered during the 2019 playoffs at the hands of NazemKadri. While the latter was suspended for the remainder of the series, DeBrusk never missed a game.
While one can never predict how concussions will impact a player, it did take some time for players like teammate PatriceBergeron or SidneyCrosby. And of course, there are those like MarcSavard who had their careers ended. So, is there hesitancy that stems from that?
While those could have adverse effects on DeBrusk, one can not ignore the fact that DeBrusk is having trouble identifying what type of player he is. There is no denying his best season was the 2018-19 campaign in which he scored 27 goals. A majority of those goals, 66.7% came as a direct result of his net front presence whether by tip-ins or rebounds.
What we’ve witnessed since then is DeBrusk spending less time in that net front position and shooting more. He had an amazing shot percentage of 17.3% during his 27-goal campaign dropped to 11.8% last season and a measly 5.1% this season. He lost his net front position on the first powerplay unit to NickRitchie this year and also while he was playing with Ritchie and DavidKrejci.
I apologize in advance to the anti-analytics crowd but here it is anyway: Since his best season, DeBrusk is above average in forecheck pressure per 60 minutes and above average in dump in recoveries a year ago. What’s changed? He’s trying to be a zone entry guy – one who carries the play into the offensive zone – and it is not in his repertoire, at least not successfully. And rather then let those more capable of doing that do their jobs while he does what he does best and go to the net, he continues to try and at every turn and is being forced to the outside by defenders and attempts a low opportunity shot at the net.
For DeBrusk, the answer is simple: Get back to what makes you successful.
It’s been rumored that NHL GMs were calling Sweeney about DeBrusk prior to the trade deadline and that the Bruins refused to trade him. There are those that believe Sweeney is trying to save face because of the 2015 Draft. I can’t put any stock into the latter because the Bruins GM has shown he is not shy about moving on if it’s the right thing to do for the organization.
Where does that leave DeBrusk? Well, he’s signed for one more season with a cap hit of $3,675,000. If the Bruins are able to work out an extension with newly acquired TaylorHall, then that leaves third line left wing. Then there is Ritchie who is a restricted free agent and requires a qualifying offer of $2 million for next season. That could push DeBrusk to where he is now, the fourth line.
Of course, DeBrusk can play the right side, but I think that has proven to be a failure for the most part. But most importantly, when his contract is up, DeBrusk is going to require a qualifying offer of $4,410,000.
The best everyone could hope for is that DeBrusk finds his game and quickly and maintains it through the playoffs or his trade value will diminish if it already hasn’t. Best case scenario is to go into next season and hope we live in a more normal world and that the world today really is having an effect on him.
Dominic Tiano returns to the blog again with another post on the job Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney has done with the team in a season where he’s been embattled after some controversial non-moves before the start of the 2021 NHL campaign. Here’s Dom’s breakdown… -KL
Prior trades. Past free agent signings. Drafting history.
Those are some of the things Bruins fans concentrate on and call for DonSweeney to be terminated let alone receive consideration for General Manager of the Year honours for the 2020-2021 season.
It began in the offseason, not just with fans, but some in the media. Sweeney made the decision to move on from veteran blue liners ZdenoChara and ToreyKrug. In fairness to Sweeney, he did offer Chara a contract but the latter decided to move on to the Washington Capitals. But for some fans, that didn’t matter. In their minds, Sweeney needed to do the impossible and get his long-time captain under contract.
The heat was really turned up a notch when the only free agent signing Sweeney brought in was CraigSmith and the decision was made to go with a younger blue line.
Things got off to a great start for the Bruins but then the injury bug began to decimate the Bruins blue line. In true Sweeney fashion, he remained calm and calculated in his decision making and he wasn’t going to let the injuries dictate is moves going forward.
He claimed JarredTinordi off the waiver wire from the Nashville Predators as a stop gap and Tinordi filled in well.
The team started to get healthy heading towards trade deadline, or at the very least, Sweeney knew they were heading towards a healthy squad. So, heading towards trade deadline, Sweeney struck in what can only be considered as his best moves during his tenure leading the Bruins.
Sweeney struck a deal with the Buffalo Sabres to bring in TaylorHall. It’s true that Hall controlled all options in the trade since he held a no movement clause. Sweeney can’t be credited for that. But what he can be credited for is the price he paid to acquire the 2010 NHL Entry Draft’s first overall selection and former league MVP.
Sweeney gave up Anders Bjork and a second-round pick in 2021 but the most impressive think about the deal isn’t that he gave up so little for Hall (with the Sabres retaining 50% of the contract) but he also got Buffalo GM KevynAdams to include Curtis Lazar in the deal. As much as Hall is credited with reviving DavidKrejci and the second line, Lazar is credited for a rejuvenated fourth line in which Coach BruceCassidy is not afraid of using in any situation. That confidence in them was lacking pre trade deadline.
But that isn’t all Sweeney was able to pull off. He also sent a third-round pick in 2022 to the Ottawa Senators for MikeReilly. As we wrote about here on TSP, Mike Reilly has changed the complexion of the Bruins blueline. Don’t want to take our word for it? Jack Edwards said during the Bruins 6-2 victory over the Sabres on Saturday, “Mike Reilly has changed the composure of the Bruins defense.”
And the Bruins have done nothing but be the hottest team since then, going 10-2-1 to lock up a playoff spot for the fifth straight year.
Of course, you can’t base the GM of the Year Award just on trade deadline moves, and what happens during the playoffs doesn’t matter as it is a regular season award.
But as I said earlier, despite pressure in the media and from the fan base, Sweeney had a plan, remained calm and calculated when things weren’t going well, and then made his move. He could have easily swung a desperation trade when is blue line was hurting and he didn’t. And the decision to move on from Chara and Krug aren’t biting him in the rear for now.
I don’t get a vote for the award obviously. But if I did, I would tend to lean towards Minnesota GM BillGuerin for the job he has done with the Wild.
We’re quoting a 1987-released album by the metal band Dokken here, but the words work for Taylor Hall, whose trade to the Boston Bruins has revitalized his foundering hockey career, trending in the wrong direction since he won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP three years ago.
The first overall selection in 2010 was long believed to be Boston’s preferred player in that draft, having to go with OHL Tyler Seguinat No. 2 when Edmonton went with Hall. The former 2-time Memorial Cup champion with the Windsor Spitfires fit the B’s model with his speed and skill game, and having interviewed him before the draft 11 years ago, he didn’t even really try to hide the fact that he was hoping that the Oilers would go with Seguin and he would be a Bruin with the second pick.
Fast forward to 20201, and GM Don Sweeney pulled off a tremendous coup at the deadline- not only landing Hall for the star-crossed Anders Bjork and a second-round pick, but also getting two-way center Curtis Lazar from the cellar-dwelling Buffalo Sabres as well. Lazar reminds a lot of Daniel Paille, who was a key role player on Boston’s 2011 Stanley Cup roster (also traded to Boston by Buffalo)- he’s fast, intelligent, plays with energy and has enough ability to chip in offensively, even if he’s not a front-line scoring forward. Scouting Post Amigo Dom Tiano posted a terrific piece on Sweeney’s other acquisition, defenseman Mike Reilly on this blog space well worth reading, so for Boston, it was arguably one of the most impactful trio of deadline pickups of all time. All three, spearheaded by Hall, have revitalized the Bruins at a critical time, and they have gone 8-2 since.
Hall, who had just 2 goals in 37 games with the Sabres, has found the back of the net 5 times in those 10 games and has 8 points, which translates to his best offensive season since he scored 39 goals and 93 points in 2018 with the New Jersey Devils, earning MVP honors. It isn’t all that surprising that Hall is scoring again- he’s on a better team and surrounded with veteran playmakers like David Krejci, who not only is taking full advantage of having an All-Star left wing on his line, but looks like he’s having fun again (and so is the beneficiary of his puck prowess and wizardry- the newest Bruins LW himself)
In Boston’s most recent win over No. 71’s former club from Western New York, and the score 3-2 B’s later in the third period with the upstart Sabres (they’ve been better in the weeks since the deadline ended) just one goal away from tying the score again, Krejci and Hall combined for a highlight reel goal off the rush, with Krejci toe-dragging the D (Henri Jokiharju) to create space for himself, then putting a puck over to his winger flying to the net and who had all of the yawning cage to fire it into, putting the game out of reach. Here’s the video thanks to Dafoomie on YouTube…
With Boston struggling in March and April due to injuries, Hall by himself would have been a significant upgrade, but Lazar and Reilly together have made important contributions, with the team getting key injured players back gradually. This is an entirely different-looking team, and while they have not yet clinched a playoff berth, they are well on their way to closing it out.
Where once the second line was a major sore spot, Hall’s arrival has given the Bruins two dangerous lines at 5v5 and the power play, while allowing the club’s impressive depth to generate mix-and-match 3rd and 4th lines who can skate with any team in the league. With Brandon Carlo close to returning to action, the B’s will have a balanced, rounded defensive corps that can play any style you want. And the goaltending cup overfloweth with abundance thanks to the presence of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak. And then there is rookie revelation Jeremy Swayman, who has come into the NHL after being the top NCAA goalie a year ago and Hockey East MVP, and ripped off a bunch of wins in his young AHL career. Things are coming together nicely for the Bruins at all positions.
In getting back to Hall, however- it wasn’t an accident that he was the first overall pick 11 years ago. Although his pro career has left a lot to be desired in terms of winning accomplishments on his resume, when the Oilers made him their guy in Los Angeles over a decade ago, Hall at 18 had already won a pair of major junior championships, a gold medal at the U18 World Championship and a silver medal at the 2010 WJC, prevented from being gold thanks to the heroics of John Carlson and Jack Campbell (an star on the All-Good Guy Team who is a feel-good story in Toronto this year after finally finding his game). Hall was a winner, and that’s something many have forgotten about given the collective mediocrity of the NHL teams he’s been on since. Yes, Hall has been a part of several winning World Championship teams since he turned pro, but with just 14 total playoff games in his NHL career, he’s primed to add to that number and turn his spring legacy around.
Whatever rumors have dogged him over the years about being an unpopular teammate and player on his various teams, Hall at least looks like he’s having a ball in Boston. At the time of the trade 10 games ago, he was interviewed and spoke openly of how far his confidence had fallen. Now, that version of himself seems to be a distant memory, as he is using his speed and hands to attack the net and consistently beat defenders wide with speed. In short, he’s feeling it, and opponents of the Bruins can no longer be confident that they merely have to smother the team’s top line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak and rely on the Frankenstein’s monster of other combos to beat them. Now, with Hall-Krejci and right wing Craig Smith (one of Boston’s hottest point producers over the past month-plus), other clubs have to respect Boston’s top-2 lines and that will allow the Black and Gold 3rd line to exploit some favorable matchups without the pressure to be the difference if the No. 1 unit isn’t going.
Will this all result in a long-term relationship between Hall and the Bruins? It’s too early to speculate, but things appear to be trending that way. Hall has money- he’s probably tired of being a hockey nomad who will soon be 30 and has yet to make a meaningful contribution to his postseason legacy in the NHL. Just looking at his body language with the Bruins since the trade was made, and it is at least clear that Hall is having fun playing and scoring with his new team, and it has had a cascading effect on the entire roster, who are playing like a group who saw their GM show faith in them by adding key pieces to put them in real contention. Will some of the alleged personality quirks and potential friction down the road deter a lengthy extension between Boston and Hall? Time will tell, but for now- Hall is back for the attack, and he’s again looking like the dominant offensive force who was expected to help take the lowly Oilers into prominence, only he’s doing it for the team who wanted him all along.
Dominic Tiano continues to carry the TSP blog with his tremendous insight and knowledge. Here’s his latest in looking at potential additions to a Bruins group that is among the best in the NHL right now.– KL
With respect to the post’s titular question, our answer at TSP is: Absolutely. There isn’t a team in the National Hockey League that couldn’t use the 30-year-old left shooting defenseman on one of the best bargain contracts that carries a cap hit of just $3,750,000.
The Nashville defender signed his current deal on October 26, 2015. It was a six-year deal worth $22,500,000, meaning he has one more year left on the deal before he becomes and unrestricted free agent.
According to CapFriendly, as of this morning there are only 5 teams that have more cap space than the Bruins. Not one of those five teams are currently a playoff team and are all in different stages of a rebuild.
Cap-wise, the Bruins are in great shape and can literally fit Ekholm’s contract under the cap without having to move out any salary. But obviously, Nashville is going to want a young NHL player back in return, among other pieces.
But why would Nashville move on from Ekholm? There is something wrong with the Predators, and no one seems to know what that is. They currently sit seventh in the Central Division, just one point up on the lowly Detroit Red Wings and some sort of retooling is needed.
Nashville’s goaltending has been mediocre at best. They have a contract like Matt Duchene which is virtually unmovable, as is that of Ryan Johansen. Viktor Arvidsson is also on a great deal, but he is off to a very bad start this season.
Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis aren’t going anywhere and neither is Filip Forsberg. So, it makes sense that with his contract, Ekholm could bring in the best return. In fact, there could be a bidding war for his services like we haven’t seen in some time.
Several NHL Insiders are reporting Ekholm is on the market including ChrisJohnson,while PierreLeBrun is hinting at it. There are even reports from Ekholm’s native Sweden that the defender is available.
It’s reasonable to assume the Preds would want one of the Bruins young defencemen back in return. It’s almost certain the Preds are going to want a draft pick back in return, likely a first, as well as another prospect.
That young defender the Preds would likely ask for is Jeremy Lauzon. But sources tell me that GM DonSweeney does not want to move Lauzon and would consider protecting him in the expansion draft – although, if they acquire Ekholm they might have to re-think their strategy there. The prospect ask going the other way could be someone like JakubLauko.
But we know how negotiations work. Sweeney could offer a second if the Preds are intent on Lauzon and up the ante to a first if the Preds were to take JakubZboril instead for example.
Two things are a certainty if the Preds move on from Ekholm: 1) DavidPoile is going to be busy talking with the other 30 General Managers and 2) Sweeney will make a phone call to the 615 area code.
Sweeney has an advantage here over other GM’s. Along with the help of EvanGold, he has cap space to make the deal now, is not forced to move out cap space, doesn’t have to wait until closer to trade deadline to lower Ekholm’s cap hit and he has the assets to swing a deal.
Dominic Tiano is back with his assessment of how the Boston Bruins defense has played through one quarter of the 2021 NHL season. Enjoy!- KL
When ToreyKrug signed with the St Louis Blues and ZdenoChara ultimately decided to sign with the Washington Capitals, there was nothing but unanswered questions surrounding the Boston Bruins blue line for the 2020-21 National Hockey League season.
Who was going to replace Krug on the powerplay? Who is going to replace the offense from the blue line? Who was going to replace Chara on the penalty kill? Who was going to shut down the opposition’s top lines? Who was going to replace Chara’s leadership? It was question after question after question, and when you tried to answer them, fans didn’t like the answers.
We are officially at the quarter-way point of the season, so this is a good sample size to look at how the young defense has performed thus far.
The 2019-20 President’s Trophy winners dressed ten different defensemen and they combined for a total of 32 goals and 112 assists in the 70-game shortened season.
This season, the Bruins have dressed eight defensemen and only because of the injuries to MattGrzelcyk and have scored 3 goals and 21 assists. That projects to 12 goals and 84 assists for the season. Pro-rated over 70 games, that is 15 goals and 105 assists. The helpers are fine, but they are on pace to score half of what last year’s blue line did and despite the 10-2-2 start, it could be a problem moving forward.
Last season, the Bruins had the third best penalty kill with an 84.19% success rate Mostly on the backs of Chara and BrandonCarlo. To date this season, the Bruins rank second with an 88.0% success rate largely on the backs of Carlo and JeremyLauzon. They are backed up by CharlieMcAvoy and KevanMiller, with Lauzon and Miller picking up the Chara minutes.
At the other end of the ice is where the loss of Krug was thought to be most impactful, especially the powerplay. Coach BruceCassidy has tried different things including five forwards at times. A year ago, with Krug manning the point, the Bruins had the second best powerplay in the league converting on 25.22% of their opportunities. This season they rank eighth but are converting on 27.27% of their chances, an increase of 2.02%. But they need a blueliner that can take the reigns there and the injuries to Grzelcyk don’t help. As we saw last against the Islanders, using 5 forwards can cost you.
The loss of Chara on the blue line, and Krug for that matter, takes away some leadership on the back end, but you can’t underestimate the leadership of Miller, now the grey-beard on the team. He can keep his teammates calm and cool under pressure. Not to mention the young guys stepping into the role. Carlo has over 300 games under his belt and Grzelcyk and McAvoy around 200. They will be counted on to take up some of the leadership slack left by Chara’s departure.
Cassidy and his coaching staff have also adjusted the system employed now that he has a more mobile unit on the backend. First off, they’ve tried to employ a more traditional shut-down defender with a puck mover on each pair, something that has worked so far.
Secondly, when defending, the defense has the green light for both guys to activate below their own goal line with the centerman usually covering the net in front of TuukkaRask or JaroslavHalak. Third, they all have the green light to skate out of the zone. And finally, because of the young legs, they can all activate at the offensive blue line and pinch down deep, something the coaching staff keeps encouraging them to do.
Coming into the season we preached how young this defense was going to be and that there would be growing pains. The growing pains have been evident, but not consistently and it has yet to hurt the team but, there is a long way to go.
Here’s a look at the Bruins defense, our Grade, and what we’ve seen so far:
CHARLIE MCAVOY Grade: A
I will be the first to admit it: Charlie McAvoy should be an A+. But for me, to earn an A+ you need to excel in every area of the game and McAvoy is doing that in every situation except one and that is the power play, although that is through no fault of his own. Cassidy prefers a left shot defender up top on the first unit which is why, when Grzelcyk is healthy, he gets those opportunities first. Cassidy has also used five forwards (at times) in the absence of Grzelcyk instead of McAvoy with David Krejci (who happens to be a right shot) at the point.
In the absence of Krug, McAvoy has taken his game to another level offensively. He is on pace to set career highs in goals, assists and points – all in just a 56-game schedule. He leads the team in assists and points, shot attempts and shots on goal and he can drive the offense from the back end like few others can.
It’s not just about offense though. He’s trusted to defend, almost always going up against the opposition’s top players. He kills penalties, he’s physical, he’s a one-man breakout machine and he easily leads his fellow blue liners in blocked shots with 29.
McAvoy is a minute eating defender who does it with quality. He leads the blue line averaging 24:19 in time on ice – 4:34 more per game than the next closest, his partner Lauzon. He leads them by a wide margin in even strength time on ice, exactly 20 minutes and he averages 2:09 in powerplay time and 2:14 in penalty kill time per game.
McAvoy will get some serious consideration for the Norris Trophy this season. Well deserved consideration. His time as a true number one defenseman in the NHL has arrived.
JEREMY LAUZON Grade: B
A lot of eyebrows were raised when it was suggested here, and the coaching staff gave Lauzon the duties of skating beside McAvoy. Has he disappointed anyone? Lauzon has been the steady defensive defenseman that can be relied upon and that in turn, gives McAvoy the opportunity to concentrate more on offense. He refuses to be outworked and leads his team in hits with 39.
He’s been winning the majority of his battles along the walls and in front of the net. Not only is he good at clearing his zone, he can make a good first pass as well and usually makes the right decisions. He’s become a staple in the penalty kill leading all Bruins blueliners in PK time on a PK that had an efficiency of 84.19% a season ago to 88.0% this season. The coaching staff is showing they are gaining more and more confidence in him and it is reflected in his average time on ice. Averaging 19:45 TOI, Lauzon trails only McAvoy at 24:19 in that department.
As we saw against the Washington Capitals on February 1, Lauzon does have some offensive abilities. Where the coaching staff used him mostly for defensive zone draws prior to that, they have been giving him more and more offensive starts lately, to the point where is starts are virtually even. Again, he trails only McAvoy in attempted shots on goal with 41 and shots on goal with 21 and Grzelcyk in percentage that get on goal with 51.2%.
MATT GRZELCYK Grade: B-
Playing in just one game in between two injuries has limited Grzelcyk to just six games on the season. Despite his size, we know what we get from him. Quick on his skates, retrieves pucks quickly and transitions even faster. Uses his positioning and his stick to defend well. His metrics across the board are very good and there is no denying that.
I know many people will question this grade but hear me out. Grzelcyk is suppose to be the guy to replace Krug on the point on the first powerplay unit. Six games just aren’t enough of a sample size to determine if he is that guy – yet. But if he is, then an A Grade is definitely on the horizon.
What we do know is Grzelcyk can sure pass and he can make smart plays. While he doesn’t posses the same kind of shot from the point that can beat a goaltender like Krug can, Grzelcyk shoots smartly. He likes to send pucks towards the goal and in just six games has directed 20 shots towards the net. A whopping 65% of those shots have reached the netminder. How good is that? Only one other defenceman is above 50% (Lauzon, 51.2%). Even McAvoy is firing at 46.4%.
That’s an important skill for a point man to have, especially since the Bruins appear to have found their permanent net front presence in Nick Ritchie. If Grzelcyk can come back and take the reigns and be effective on the powerplay, his grade can only go up.
BRANDON CARLO Grade: B
Carlo is quite simply one of the premier shut down defenders in the NHL. At 6’5” and over 210 pounds, he is a superb skater. Although he isn’t as physical as many fans want him to be, Carlo has some amazing strength that makes him a force in front of his goaltenders and a defender that the opposition doesn’t relish battling along the walls. He can go up against the oppositions best and paired with Lauzon on the penalty kill, form on of the better PK pairs in the NHL.
It’s noticeable that Carlo wants to be more involved in the offense and he has taken it upon himself to do just that. Carlo could very well surpass his career high of 19 points from a season ago, and do it in the shortened 56-game schedule.
Carlo has somewhat slowed that offensive down lately, largely due to the turnstile of partners he’s had, with little chance to get some chemistry going. He’s usually paired with Grzelcyk, but injuries have limited him to just 6 games. When the latter was out, it was with Clifton and then on what was a back-to-back situation, John Moore. And as mentioned, he is usually paired with Lauzon on the PK but also with Miller at times.
We fully expect that once Grzelcyk returns and Carlo gets a regular partner, that he will continue to push forward offensively.
JAKUB ZBORIL Grade: B-
Perhaps the growing pains are more evident in Zboril than any of the other d-men. And that is not a knock on him. He is the least experience of the group and the talent he possesses is clearly evident. But once in a while he might make you want to throw your remote through your 72” TV.
Again, they were expected to happen. But if you can set them aside for a moment and look at the good things, then we should be happy with what we are seeing. It’s true that Cassidy is somewhat sheltering him with the most offensive zone starts on the blue line at 63.4%, but the coach is also trying to get him accustomed to the NHL at the same time. When Lauzon was serving his 5 plus 10 with his fight in New York, Cassidy had no hesitation in throwing Zboril out there to kill a penalty. It’s in him, but it is evident the coach wants to take it slowly.
Cassidy is also willing to use Zboril on the powerplay and eventually, Zboril might just excel at it. He has an excellent shot from the point but he definitely needs to work on getting it through. He’s third among the blueliners with 36 attempted shots on goal, but is a team worst 36.1% getting it on the net, either missing the target or having it blocked. It’s not a matter of if, but when he gets better at that, good things will happen for him.
In his own zone, he’s good at retrieving pucks and transitioning, makes a good first pass, but more importantly, he can skate out of danger. He’s learning how strong NHL players are as compared to AHL players, but that to will come and some of the misfortunes he’s had will become less and less frequent.
KEVAN MILLER Grade: B-
When General Manager Don Sweeney inked Miller to his contract there was an uproar through Bruins Nation. Many eyebrows were raised and many questions were asked. Why sign Miller before Chara? Why sign a player that has not played in almost two years? And more importantly, why sign a player that is coming off of two major knee surgeries?
Well, 14 games into the season things have changed, and might I add, dramatically. In a poll I conducted on Twitter with over 500 hundred votes, Miller was the overwhelming choice by fans as the 7th Player Award winner to date with over 40% of the vote. (He was followed by Nick Ritchie with 28%)
However, it’s more than just being able to skate in 14 games when there was doubt (in the minds of fans) that he could not just play quality hockey, but play at all. Miller can play both sides of the ice with little difference when on his weak side. We’ve seen it a lot when paired with McAvoy on the second pair killing penalties. He’s physical and hits hard, trailing only Lauzon in hits with 30.
He’s a guy the coaches can depend on to defend a one goal lead in the last minute. He wins his battles along the walls and is hard to move. As we saw against the Rangers, down a man and the Rangers goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, Miller on his off side paired with Carlo, ate up a lot of the time remaining on the clock buy keeping the puck along the boards behind the goal line.
Despite Miller’s superb work on the PK and in key defensive situations, he and his usual partner in Zboril are getting some sheltered starts from Coach Cassidy, with over 61% of the pair’s zone starts being in the offensive zone.
CONNOR CLIFTON Grade: B-
Cliffy Hockey, what can we say? If there is one player in the NHL that plays much bigger than 5’11” and 175 pounds, it’s Clifton. While Lauzon leads the team in hits, it’s actually Clifton that leads the squad in hits per game with 3.3. He plays physical, he can defend and he can skate. He’s pretty underrated in some circles as a puck carrier, but he can move the puck. And he will stand up for a teammate.
Clifton doesn’t get much specialty team time on ice. The coaching staff use him primarily in 5 on 5 situations, but when one of the other d-men are in the box, they have no hesitation in using him on the PK.
It’s hard to imagine that on many teams he wouldn’t be a starter in the top six. For now, he is the 7th defenseman on this squad who will see time when someone goes down with an injury or is in need of a break.
With Clifton what you see is what you get: 100% effort on every shift, accountability and determination. You couldn’t ask for more from a player in his spot.
John Moore was left off the list because one game just isn’t enough to grade him on, even though he had a very good first game of the season against the Islanders.
We’ve sometimes repetitively said there would be growing pains with this young defence. And there has been on any given night one guy is not at his best. What we haven’t seen is those growing pains as a group. When one is struggling, the other five pick up the slack, and that is part of the reason they sit 10-2-2 one-quarter of the way through the season.
Dominic Tiano provides this helpful tutorial on NHL capology and how the constant juggling act currently affects the Boston Bruins. We couldn’t break it down and answer your many questions about the nuts and bolts of the NHL’s economics without our resident capologist and 4th Amigo- KL
I never would have imagined that one tweet about deadline cap space would generate as many questions as it has. With that said, I will try and explain it in detail what that means as your Boston Bruins enter uncharted territory (for them) with a boat load of cap space and how the brain trust of DonSweeney and EvanGold use it to their advantage.
To begin with, there are two changes that you’ll have to remember. First, a normal NHL season usually has 186 days in that season. Because of the shortened season, that number is now 116. Second, there are 26 days remaining in the season after trade deadline.
The next focus is on the taxi squad. The taxi squad is considered being in the AHL, so while a player is on the taxi squad, his cap hit does not count. The NHL cap is calculated daily so when a player is on the taxi squad, his cap space is not being counted towards the cap, thus “banking cap space”.
The best way to explain that is to use TrentFrederic as an example since the Bruins have used him the most in paper transactions to bank some cap space. Frederic carries a cap hit of $925,000 and that is what the Bruins would be charged if he were to remain on the roster for the full 116 days.
Today marks day 26 of the NHL season. Frederic has been on the NHL roster for only 14 of those days with the other 12 on the taxi squad. If you take $925,000/116 that gives you a daily cap hit of $7,974. By sending Frederic to the taxi squad his accumulated cap hit is now $7,974 X 14 or $111,638 where as if he remained on the roster throughout the full 26 days it would be $7,974 X 26 or $207,325. That’s a savings of $95,687. (numbers are rounded as we aren’t using fractions of dollars).
The affects can be seen in the following charts:
The cap hit is calculated by the cap hits of the players on the roster and those that have been on the roster at any point during the season. Earned bonuses have no current affect as they are not charged to the team until the end of the season, although they may want to plan for it.
The projected cap space is what you need to focus on here (ignore the Deadline Space for now, we’ll explain that later). The projection is based on the current roster if it remains the same until the end of the season. However, we know that it will not and there will be changes almost daily.
As you can see, the Bruins cap space projects to be $3,578,368 if the roster remains unchanged until the end of the season with a Deadline Space of $15,965,026 (again, we will explain Deadline Space later).
The chart below shows the difference between moving Frederic up and down to the taxi squad and if he had remained on the roster for the full 116 days of the regular season.
As you can see, the projected cap space decreases to $2,765,006 and the deadline space to $12,336,181 (I promise we will get to the Deadline Space).
While it’s true the difference between Frederic’s current cap hit (14 days on the roster) and his $925,000 normal cap hit is substantial, thus skewing the numbers a bit, it must be remembered that at some point JakeDeBrusk, JackStudnicka and OndrejKase are going to come off of injured reserve. That would put the Bruins at a 24-man roster therefore, someone is going to have to go back down to the taxi squad to get to the 23-man roster limit (barring any further injuries) so the numbers aren’t really that skewed.
Now, to the dreaded deadline space.
The replies I have received suggest it is some form of cheating and that they can exceed the cap. That’s not true and I hope this will clear that up for you. Deadline space is the average annual value (AAV) of contracts that can be added and still remain compliant at the end of the season.
If you refer to the second chart above again, the Bruins have $12,336,181 in deadline space. That means they can add two players with an AAV of $6 million each and still remain cap compliant at the end of the season.
Remember, the cap is calculated daily, and there are only 26 days remaining in the season after trade deadline, so the actual cap hit to the Bruins is $6 million/116 for a daily cap hit of $52,724 and over 26 days that’s a cap hit of $1,344,824. For two players carrying an AAV of $6 million that comes to $2,689,648, and that puts them below the $2,765,006 in the cap space they would have had at the end of the season.
So, the question becomes “how do you know what AAV you can add at trade deadline and remain compliant?”
If you don’t want to dig out your calculators that’s okay, I will do the math for you!
Using the second chart, if you take the Projected Cap Space of $3,578,368 and divide it by 26 (the number of days remaining after trade deadline) that gives you the daily cap space of $137,630. If you then multiply that by 116 (the number of days in the NHL season) that gives you $15,965,026 or the AAV that can be added at trade deadline and remain cap compliant.
Zdeno Chara returns for his tenth season as the captain of the Boston Bruins (photo courtesy of Alison M. Foley)
As 2020 came to a merciful end, (many) Boston Bruins fans were greeted with one more bit of unwelcome news this week as captain Zdeno Chara’s 14-season run with the team came to an end with news he accepted a one-year offer from the Washington Capitals at age 43.
It seems both unimaginable and inevitable that the greatest free agent signing in team history would end in a whimper the way it did with a sudden announcement that after months of little to no movement on the renewal of a contract that most supporters felt was sure to happen. Like former Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield at the end of his major league career, it appeared as if the team and player had an unofficial deal to stay in Boston until both agreed that Chara’s playing days were over.
Clearly, that was not the case, as initial news brought anger and disbelief, especially when the base salary of $795,000 for the new season to exchange the black and gold for red, white and blue, came out. Chara’s deal calls for performance bonuses that would bring his total compensation to a $1.5 million AAV (per CapFriendly.com), but it was understandable that most fans would think it ridiculous that the Bruins weren’t willing to find the money to re-sign their captain, a player who had inked four separate contracts in Boston since he first came to town at age 29 in 2006.
However, as things are often the case with Hall of Fame-caliber players, and let’s be clear- four years after Chara calls it a career, whether in 2021 or later, he will be enshrined in Toronto- the truth of the matter is rarely black and white.
As the news has settled and more has come out on the negotiations that took place between Boston and Chara, both have said complimentary things and it appears that the following are both true:
The Bruins wanted Chara back for a 15th season as captain, but with caveats.
Chara was not willing to return to the team he cemented his legendary status with in a reduced role.
The purpose of this post is not to defend the organization for what did or didn’t happen to facilitate an icon’s departure, but to add context and provide food for thought to those fair-minded observers who are interested in what might have happened and why the team and player took positions they did. We weren’t there, so while we have been given some information based on sources familiar with the negotiations, this is merely one view on what might have happened.
It is fair to be disappointed that Chara and the team his greatest collective and individual accomplishments happened with couldn’t find a way to keep him until age 44 or when he finally calls it a stellar career. It is also fair to be okay with the realization that Chara is no longer the player he was and that his lack of mobility and inability to play in all situations like he once did means that the organization had to make a tough choice about answering the player’s questions about how he would be employed should he sign a fifth contract and third one-year extension since 2018.
The biggest challenge the Bruins face right now is with expectations for 2021. The team is coming off of a President’s Trophy as top regular season club in 2019-20 until COVID-19 forced the campaign’s pause in March. Prior to that, they took the St. Louis Blues to a seventh game of what would have been a second Stanley Cup championship team under Chara’s captaincy out of three trips to the final series. Given Torey Krug’s departure to those very Blues via free agency, fans have a right to be concerned about how the B’s power play and penalty kill special teams units will fare without two key anchors from a season ago.
From this view in the saddle, the issue so much isn’t Chara’s departure due to a fundamental disagreement between player and team over usage going forward and how to better manage the development other players in the organization, but more of a realization that without Chara and Krug, the Boston defense as a unit is almost certain to take steps backwards in 2021. In a few short months, we’ve gone from a team many thought might win a championship after the COVID pause resumed, to one that is on the outside looking in right now and in the immediate future.
Even if one or more of Matt Grzelcyk, Jakub Zboril, Urho Vaakanainen, Jeremy Lauzon and even Jack Ahcan were all primed to step in and fill those roles vacated by Chara and Krug with much more certainty than what we’re currently dealing with, there would still be questions about their basic experience and ability to replicate the x-factor that such battle-tested veterans provided Boston over the last 5-7 years. That, in our view, is what is really at the heart of the negativity surrounding Chara’s departure. More than anything else, it’s a harbinger of darker times and a window that has essentially closed after the team watched other teams around the league get better while Boston’s biggest name addition in the offseason was complementary forward Craig Smith.
Boston lost the opportunity for a second championship in three years when they dropped a six-game series to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013, the dawn of Krug’s era as a PP staple in Boston, while Chara was still at the height of his two-way productivity as an all-situations stalwart. The B’s followed up that disappointment with a President’s Trophy in 2014, then lost in the second round of the playoffs to their hated rival Montreal Canadiens and subsequently missed the playoffs for two years before a renaissance largely sparked by Patrice Bergeron’s continued excellence, plus the emergence of Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak as offensive forces from 2017-20 brought the team back into contention. Charlie McAvoy is the heir apparent on defense as potentially the next top/franchise cornerstone defenseman in Boston.
And it is right for those who see the parallels between the B’s teams from 2013-14 and 2019-20 to point out that by allowing Chara to leave like this, things are setting up for another precipitous fall like the one we witnessed in 2015 and 2016.
Five years hence, the 2015 draft was a major missed opportunity. Though all three first-round picks are still in the fold and Jake DeBrusk has become a solid complementary scorer with the B’s, the chance to draft three driver-types didn’t happen, and has exacerbated the concerns surrounding the club’s current fortunes. We’ll not open that can of worms in the Chara piece at present, as the 2015 draft’s failings deserves its own treatment at some point soon, but the reality is- as the 2021 season dawns, the B’s have far more question marks on the left side of their defense corps than answers at present, and that is at the heart of the angst surrounding Chara’s exit.
Also at issue is the captain’s legacy and how things should have ended in Boston. One can certainly argue that he deserved better- a final curtain call in Boston and the ability to close out a two-plus decade career in the NHL that saw him endure as the league’s tallest player who evolved into a curious project into a dominant, Norris Trophy-winning, franchise icon who helped the Bruins organization to its first championship in nearly four decades, the first such accomplishment since Bobby Orr manned the Boston blue line. On several levels, it doesn’t make sense that the Bruins as a whole- whether you’re talking Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, Bruce Cassidy or even ownership as a collective brain trust, wouldn’t see the black clouds gathering on the horizon and know that they would take a major PR hit by not closing the deal to keep Chara in the fold.
At the same time, we have to admire the team’s courage for looking at the situation and deciding that simply offering him a new contract to maintain a status quo in Boston and turn 44 in the midst of the new season without addressing what has been a declining return on investment, was a bridge too far. Right or wrong, what is always lost on fans and media members, no matter how well sourced they may be, are the team dynamics of what goes on behind the scenes. They are not sitting in the meetings that take place when leaders lay out the depth chart and talk through the myriad scenarios of player usage combined with future financial constraints and contract negotiations. No one is privy to the discussions that talk about who the team is likely to lose when the NHL’s newest expansion club, the Seattle Kraken gets to leverage the changed rules to build a far more competitive roster than all of the other NHL’s expansion clubs in history. We all watched the Las Vegas Golden Knights create a blue print for in 2017, and the Bruins are trying to manage the challenge of not losing a driver-type of player to Seattle because they didn’t know what they had in order to make the right decision when it comes to whom they protect and those who get exposed in the impending expansion draft.
Sound like excuse making? Perhaps. But, ask yourselves this: If Chara returned and continued to log key minutes in the rotation and on the PK and another player further down the depth chart departed either to Seattle or other club only to blossom as a top performer there, many of those same people unhappy about Chara’s departure would also savage the Bruins organization for allowing an aging veteran to hang on for so long and hindering the development of others in the system or at least- camouflaging their potential and preventing the B’s from making an informed decision on who to protect.
Building a winning team is a never-ending master-level jigsaw puzzle. It isn’t just about acquiring talent and skill but supplementing those stars with the right kinds of players who can come together and embrace a team’s structure and organizational values. Some fans might scoff at this quaint notion of the herculean task managers face at all meaningful levels, but the reality is- that’s why they’re fans. They might build a successful Twitter following, but they’ll never be part of a high-level team, nor will they understand the constant challenges of juggling the many dynamics needed to build a winning, championship team. For them, it is more about pointing fingers and playing to a crowd of like-minded toadies and sycophants in a social media echo chamber than thoughtful analysis and a fair-minded approach to what is going on. Like barking, clapping seals, they speak in absolutes they know nothing about. And that’s fine- it’s the world we live in, but it is also completely fair to point this out and call out some of the mind-numbing nitwits who have the loudest voices on matters they haven’t earned a shred of credibility to comment on.
What does seem to be playing out is this: the Bruins have put themselves at a disadvantage by selling off draft capital to remain competitive for playoff runs in recent years, but the time has come for them to start accruing picks and looking at building a better system. Prospects like Jack Studnicka and Mason Lohrei show significant promise as two of Boston’s most likely candidates to be drivers one day, but unlike many other teams around the league, Boston lacks the volume/depth of star power and pure skill/dynamic upside players in other systems who are on their way to the NHL in the next 3-5 years. The B’s have long done pretty well with savvy undrafted free agent signings to help bolster their draft misses and disappointments, but this puts tremendous pressure on the organization to find the rare players everyone else has not identified, and causes the GM to expend assets and capital on talent acquisition via trades and the bloated unrestricted free agent market.
Losing Chara to Washington stings, because he had so many amazing moments as a Bruin and was in many cases, the face of a franchise that had fallen on hard times when he was signed, and played a major role in a resurrection that ended with the Stanley Cup five years later and a near 10+ year run of sustained success. Just about everyone who rooted heart and soul for the Boston Bruins should be sad to see him go and appreciate what he did when he was here. But nothing, especially those lives spent in professional sports, lasts forever. Et tu, Tom Brady?
Those who are upset that Chara and the current core didn’t bring more championships to Boston have a point. Those who feel that Chara should have been treated a little differently so that he wouldn’t have felt the need to take his game elsewhere in the twilight of a tremendous career are also right. But so are those who understand that the business side of hockey sometimes means that you lose these battles and teams have to make highly unpalatable decisions because they truly feel that those are in the best interest of the club. No one has a crystal ball…sometimes, those tough decisions pay off and sometimes they don’t. But the Bruins felt that keeping the status quo for another year without addressing it with the captain was the wrong thing to do. Even if they had agreed to give him the role he was used to, would fans have demanded a change if he was unable to keep up, unable to make the plays needed for success at age 44? It’s easy to say that the team *should* have done what it took to keep him, but remember- Chara himself had a choice to stay and perform in the role that the team had for him. He chose a different path. It’s not just on the Bruins for that.
In the end, it may be precisely true that the Bruins take steps backwards in 2021. It seems a certainty in fact, that they will. But even if that happens, it does not stand as proof that the leadership lacks a plan or vision. Sweeney and his staff dug the club out of the malaise of 2015 and 2016 and built a squad that was three periods away from a championship just 1.5 years ago. History is never kind to those who are unable to close it out and attain ultimate victory, and those with an agenda to do so will almost certainly continue to overlook that or harp on the failures of the 2015 draft (without ever citing the multiple successes of 2014), but just because you feel strongly about something does not make it true.
We wish Zdeno Chara the best as he embarks on what could be one last hurrah with a new team. It’s a shame that he couldn’t finish his storied run in Boston, but like Ray Bourque before him, the show will go on.
Thanks for everything, Big Z- You were everything we thought you would be when you signed 14+ years ago…and then some.
Dominic Tiano is on fire, and brings us another intriguing piece laying out a scenario in which the Boston Bruins could potentially work a 1-year contract with unrestricted free agent Mike Hoffman into their current cap crunch (while also making a Zdeno Chara extension work). No one does cap maneuvering like Dom does, so sit back and enjoy his latest. -KL
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us individually in one form or another. It has also affected the arts, entertainment and the sports world.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 9 months, there is no need for me to explain how the pandemic has affected the National Hockey League, your favorite team, or your favorite player so, we won’t go there.
When it comes to unrestricted free agents in the NHL, maybe no one has been more negatively impacted then one Mike Hoffman. While the likes of Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo and others signed contracts relatively quickly, Hoffman waited. It’s not that there weren’t offers on the table for him.
But why wait in a world with as many financial question marks as the NHL has? Were there only one-year offers being thrown his way? Was he adamant that any contract be a long-term deal? Not according to his agent Robert Hooper who made it clear they’d be willing to accept a one-year offer. (By the way, it must be noted that Hooper is also the agent for David Krejci.)
Could we see the two Hooper clients skating side-by-side on TD Garden ice (or wherever they may be playing) for the 2021 NHL season? When free agency began, Hoffman was being linked to the Bruins by many in the hockey world. Over the last couple of days, those links to Boston have been resurrected. As they say “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
As free agency moved along, we saw the cap space the Bruins had begin to evaporate after signing Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk, Craig Smith and Jake DeBrusk all while waiting on a decision by Captain and future Hall of Famer Zdeno Chara and his plans.
The independent website CapFriendly currently shows the Bruins with $2,982,686 in cap space for the upcoming season. So how could the Bruins possibly fit a player of Hoffman’s caliber with the little wiggle room they have? It’s doable. And they could even fit Zdeno Chara in.
At the top of the list is what the Chara decides to do. You could almost bet that if Chara was to return, that he would eat up the majority of the cap space the Bruins have remaining. Would Chara be open to returning on a deal with a $1.5 million cap hit with performance bonuses? (I believe we’ll have an answer to the Chara questions before the holidays, if not sooner.)
Assume that he would. Would Hoffman agree to a one-year deal with a $5 million cap hit?
Under normal circumstances, the answer would be a resounding no. And I will be the first to admit that is a lowball offer for Hoffman. But we’ve seen in these uncertain times, players take less money on short term deals and wait out the ugly financial uncertainty that sits over the NHL’s head.
Many players took pay cuts. Braden Holtby, Justin Schultz, Tyson Barrie, Craig Smith, Tyler Toffoli, just to name a few. Not that they are on the same level as Hoffman but it’s the sign of the times. Under normal circumstances, most, if not all those players would have earned more.
What about term? Of the 278 non-entry level contracts signed since October 8, 2020: 167 were one-year deals (60%), 76 were two-year deals (27.3%), 21 were three-year deals (7.5%), 8 were 4 years deals (2.8%) and 6 were for 5 or more years (2.1%).
How does that compare to the 2019 free agency period beginning on July 1, 2019 through to October 1, 2019? There were 265 contracts through the free agency period, just 13 less than the current period. That breaks down as follows: 159 were 1-year deals (60%), 63 were 2-year deals (23.8%), 15 were 3-year deals (5.7%), 8 were 4-year deals (3.0%) and 20 were 5+ year deals (7.5%).
While 1-year contracts went unchanged percentage wise, there is a clear trend that suggests players and owners both moved away from long term deals in favor of 2-year deals, suggesting financial uncertainty plays a role.
Even if Chara and Hoffman did accept those terms, the Bruins would still be short roughly $3.5 million. Where could they possibly make that up?
In the short term, Long Term Injury Reserve could be an answer as they await the status of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Miller. That would at least buy them some time to get the cap in order.
But what about long term?
Since CapFriendly is the most trusted resource available when it comes to the NHL’s salary cap. Let’s continue by working off of their numbers.
Firstly, we need to add a defenceman in the form of Jakub Zboril if the Bruins are serious about giving him an opportunity. That reduces the cap space available to $2,257,686.
Secondly, we remove the Anton Blidh ($700,000) and Par Lindholm ($850,000) cap hits by sending them to Providence. That cap space now becomes $3,807,686 and a roster that resembles this:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
DeBrusk – Krejci – Kase
Bjork – Coyle – Smith
McKegg/Ritchie – Kuraly – Wagner
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Moore – Carlo
Lauzon – Miller
Zboril – Clifton
The most obvious answer if you ask Bruins fans in general would be to move Nick Ritchie and John Moore via trade. Combined, that would clear $4,248,925 in cap space but likely would require taking a salary back in return.
That brings us to Anders Bjork. Signed for three more seasons and a controllable $1.6 million cap hit, he would be more enticing to other teams since he would still be a restricted free agent when his deal expires and much easier to move without having to take salary back in the return.
That would leave a roster that would look like this:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Hoffman – Krejci – Kase
DeBrusk – Coyle – Smith
McKegg/Ritchie – Kuraly – Wagner
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Moore – Carlo
Lauzon – Miller
Zboril – Clifton
That roster would leave the Bruins with $407,686 in cap space. So, how would you fit Chara in while still adding Hoffman?
It’s likely that any Chara contract would come with some sort of performance bonus. Here’s the issue: Both Jaroslav Halak and Kevan Miller deals include performance bonuses with easily attainable numbers totalling $2 million. The Bruins could use the bonus overage and defer that to the 2021-22 season when David Backes’$1.5 million retained cap hit comes off the books. That’s just replacing Backes’ “dead money” with even more “dead money”. A Chara performance bonus just makes that even greater. And they’re already deferring $964,222 from the 2019-20 season.
No one really knows which direction Bruins cap genius Evan Gold will take. One thing I have faith in is that he will figure it all out. Back to the subject at hand.
Unless the Bruins plan on moving out one of their core players with big cap hits, the only viable solution to these eyes is moving Moore. And to move him without taking any salary back may just mean that you are going to have to move a prospect or a pick to entice a team. That’s where I look at a team like Detroit, who are rebuilding, stockpiling draft picks and prospects and have cap space. And Detroit only has two defencemen signed beyond this upcoming season, and just five if you’re counting prospects. Maybe you could package Bjork and Moore together to a team like Detroit. Bjork would certainly fit into what Steve Yzerman is trying to accomplish in Motown.
If the Bruins can make that happen then we have a roster that will look like this:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Hoffman – Krejci – Kase
DeBrusk – Coyle – Smith
McKegg/Ritchie – Kuraly – Wagner
Grzelcyk – McAvoy
Chara – Carlo
Lauzon – Miller
Zboril – Clifton
That would leave the Bruins with $1,657,686 in cap space and a 23-man roster. That space can be used to eat up performance bonuses, or be used at trade deadline or more likely to get Chara and Hoffman signed to deals they could likely get somewhere else. Especially Hoffman as $5 million is going to be on the light side. Then again, no other contender can afford much more than that.
The purpose here isn’t intended to suggest any or all of this is going to happen. Its intention is to suggest that there are options and that financially, the Bruins could make it work. There’s been plenty of negativity on social media about the handling of the cap when it comes to the Bruins, especially after GM Don Sweeney signed Miller to his contract.
Time after time after time we’ve seen NHL GM’s work themselves out of a cap issue. We’ve even seen Sweeney do it himself with Matt Beleskey and Backes. Hindsight is 20/20 but he was able to do what he needed to do to rid himself of those deals. Yes, of course, they came at a cost. At the same time, Sweeney recognized it was a misjudgement and did what was best for the Boston Bruins.
It’s been a while, but Dominic Tiano is back with a timely piece on the next expansion draft as it applies to the newest NHL franchise, the Seattle Kraken and how that eventuality will impact the Boston Bruins. Settle in and read what Dom has to say on the matter- KL
As the NHL and the NHLPA move closer and closer to reaching an agreement on the 2020-21 season (from this moment forward we will refer to it as the 2021 season), NHL General Mangers will certainly move forward looking to clear cap space, while others will look to add to their roster in the form of free agent signings and bailing out those teams that need to move out dollars.
But every move they make will be done with one eye kept on the expansion draft as the Seattle Kraken are set to join the NHL for the 2021-22 season.
Thirty of the thirty-one current NHL teams (Vegas is exempt) have the option of protecting 7 forwards, 3 defencemen and 1 goaltender or 8 skaters and 1 goaltender. Bruins GM Don Sweeney will no doubt be looking to add whether it’s prior to the season beginning or a trade deadline.
We take a look here at where the Bruins stand, some of the rules and how the Bruins roster sits.
UNSIGNED DRAFTED PROSPECTS ARE EXEMPT This Is pretty straight forward. Prospects that have yet to sign an NHL entry level contract are exempt from the draft. For the Bruins, that means Linus Arnesson, Jack Becker, John Beecher, Roman Bychkov, Riley Duran, Curtis Hall, Trevor Kuntar, Mason Langenbrunner, Mason Lohrei, Matias Mantykivi, Dustyn McFaul, Quinn Olson, and Jake Schmaltz are untouchable.
FIRST- AND SECOND-YEAR PLAYERS ARE EXEMPT For players just completing their first or second year of professional hockey (this includes the American Hockey League – which is the only other professional league in this situation) it’s the same situation – they are exempt from the draft. For the Bruins this includes Matt Filipe, Oskar Steen, Pavel Shen, Jack Studnicka, Jakub Lauko, Robert Lantosi, Jack Ahcan, Urho Vaakanainen, Victor Berglund, Nick Wolff, Jeremy Swayman and Kyle Keyser.
PLAYERS WITH NO MOVEMENT CLAUSES MUST BE PROTECTED Unless a player waives his no movement clause, he must be protected by his squad. For the Bruins that means Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Charlie Coyle will be protected. It must be noted that players that are about to become unrestricted free agents with no movement clauses do not have to be protected. The Bruins have no player under those circumstances at the moment. But let’s say Zdeno Chara signs a one-year deal with the Bruins, likely with a no movement clause, the Bruins would not be required to protect him.
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENTS Technically, in a non-COVID 19 year, a player is still under contract when the expansion draft takes place. Should a team leave a pending unrestricted free agent unprotected from the expansion draft, the Kraken would have a 3-day window of exclusivity to sign the player. Should the Kraken sign such a player, that pick will count as the player selected from the team. For the Bruins, David Krejci, Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak, Sean Kuraly, Par Lindholm, Gregg McKegg, Kevan Miller and Steven Kampfer fall into this category.
WHAT THE BRUINS MUST MAKE AVAILABLE TO THE KRAKEN
GOALTENDING
The Bruins must make available one goaltender who is under contract for 2021-22 or, if they choose to expose a restricted free agent, that goaltender must receive his qualifying offer. And they can only protect 1 goaltender. As mentioned earlier, Swayman and Keyser are exempt so they are out of the picture. Rask and Halak are pending unrestricted free agents. If they choose to protect Rask and re-sign him, they would need to make a qualifying offer to Dan Vladar and Callum Booth, but both would be left for the Kraken to choose from. However, the Bruins could protect Vladar and gamble that Rask would not sign with Seattle and try to sign him once free agency opens up.
DEFENCEMEN
The Bruins must make available to Seattle one defenceman who has played in at least 40 games in the 2021 season or, 70 games combined in the 2019-20 and the 2021 season and is under contract for the 2021-22 season. Currently, the Bruins only have 3 defencemen that meet those requirements: Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk. Others that are close to reaching the minimum requirement (games required in brackets) are: Connor Clifton (31), Jeremy Lauzon (40), John Moore (40), Kevan Miller (40), Jakub Zboril (40) and Steven Kampfer (40). It must be noted that Seattle does not have to pick a player who meets minimum requirements, but can choose any player left unprotected. It must also be noted that just being on the active roster does not equal a game played. The player must actually play in the game. In a season that is expected to have 52 to 56 games, with many back-to-backs and the chance of injuries or, heaven forbid, a positive COVID-19 test, are the Bruins willing to risk the chance at any of those players playing in 40 games?
FORWARDS
The Bruins must make available to Seattle two forwards who has played in at least 40 games in the 2021 season or, 70 games combined in the 2019-20 and the 2021 season and is under contract for 2021-22. With Bergeron, Marchand and Coyle protected because of no movement clauses, the Bruins appear to be in excellent shape here as David Krejci, Chris Wagner, Sean Kuraly, David Pastrnak, Craig Smith and Jake DeBrusk meet the minimum requirements. Ondrej Kase (4), Anders Bjork (2), Nick Ritchie (14), Greg McKegg (14) and Par Lindholm (24) are close. The remaining forwards will require 40 games to be played to meet minimum exposure requirements and they include: Karson Kuhlman, Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic and Zach Senyshyn. As with the defencemen, Seattle does not have to pick a player that meets minimum requirements and can choose any player exposed.
Now that all of that is out of the way, you would have to figure that, with a reduced schedule, there are going to be changes made to the 40/70 rule right? That is going to require some negotiations between the NHL, the NHLPA and the Seattle Kraken. But if you’re Seattle, how open are you going to be to change considering you paid $650 million in franchise fees and were promised the same opportunity as Vegas? Is it even negotiable since it is written into the expansion agreement between the league and the Kraken?
As I said in the opening, I don’t believe Don Sweeney is finished adding at some point in the offseason or during the season. But with the roster as it stands today, what options are there for the Bruins in the expansion draft? I believe the Bruins will protect 7 forwards, 3 defencemen and 1 goaltender. This is my stab at it.
GOALTENDING
Protect: Dan Vladar
Expose: Tuukka Rask, Jaroslav Halak and Callum Booth
I never in a million years would have suggested protecting Vladar over Rask. But considering the season Vladar had a year ago in the AHL and his more than impressive start in Europe this season, you would think he’d be intriguing to both the Kraken and the Bruins. It’s a huge gamble doing this with hopes on being able to re-sign Rask once free agency comes. It’s a gamble I’d be willing to take. To meet minimum exposure requirements all Sweeney would have to do is give Booth his qualifying offer as an RFA.
DEFENCEMEN
Protect: Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk
Expose: John Moore, Kevan Miller, Connor Clifton, Jeremy Lauzon, Jakub Zboril and Steven Kampfer
Only Kampfer and Miller don’t meet the contractual status to meet the minimum requirements for exposure and all of them have a long way to go to meet the games played requirements.
FORWARDS
Protect: Patrice Bergeron (NMC), Brad Marchand (NMC), Charlie Coyle (NMC), David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk, Trent Frederic and Craig Smith.
Expose: David Krejci, Ondrej Kase, Anders Bjork, Nick Ritchie, Sean Kuraly, Par Lindholm, Cameron Hughes, Karson Kuhlman, Anton Blidh, Zach Senyshyn, Paul Carey, Peter Cehlarik and Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson
I take the same path here with Krejci as I do with Rask. Again, a huge gamble, but we know how much Krejci likes it in Boston and I have no fear that he would go finish his career in Seattle.
On this exposure list Wagner and Bjork are the only two on my unprotected list that meet the minimum contractual requirements. Wagner also meets the minimum games required and Bjork would have to play just two games and Kase 4 to meet them. It appears the exposure requirements will be met easily by the Bruins.
Once Sweeney makes a move on the roster, most of this still stands, but the names will be different.
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