The Bruins began their end-of-season media availability on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena, with players meeting with reporters throughout the day. Coach Bruce Cassidy, general manager Don Sweeney and president Cam Neely will all be holding press conferences in the coming days.
Here are some takeaways from Monday, including the stories we already posted on Patrice Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk:
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David Pastrnak got emotional while reflecting on a “tough year overall.” He wasn’t referring to hockey. Last June, Pastrnak and his partner, Rebecca, lost their newborn son, Viggo, just six days after he was born.
Pastrnak acknowledged that hockey took a backseat for a long time after that.
“It went down a lot, to be honest,” Pastrnak said of the importance of hockey. “It’s been a tough year overall for me. I want to turn the page pretty much as quick as I can. Obviously, much better place than we were months ago. It was tough.”
There’s obviously no way to “get over” a tragedy like that, but to the extent that Pastrnak was able to get through it, he said “time and love” were required.
“Just time. Obviously a lot of time together. Just time. Time and love. Very tough. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody in their life. Hopefully there’s better things ahead of us,” he said.
On the ice, Pastrnak still led the Bruins with 40 goals -- the second 40-goal season of his career -- and was second in points with 77.
He suffered a core injury on March 18 in Winnipeg, and said on Monday that it was a muscle injury that he managed enough to play through for a couple weeks before eventually tearing cartilage on April 4 in Columbus.
Pastrnak missed nearly three weeks before returning for the final week of the regular season and the playoffs. He said he was feeling better by then, but will still need most of the summer to let it completely heal.
Pastrnak is entering the final year of a six-year contract he signed in 2017. The Bruins will likely initiate extension talks this offseason, but Pastrnak said he hasn’t even given his next deal any thought yet.
“I actually haven’t given it a thought yet, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of other stuff I’ve been worrying about the whole year. I haven’t been thinking about that at all, actually.”
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Matt Grzelcyk revealed that he suffered a dislocated right shoulder on Jan. 22 when Winnipeg’s Pierre-Luc Dubois hit him from behind. He will undergo surgery on the shoulder next week and will likely miss that start of next season.
Grzelcyk said the shoulder popped in and out several times over the remainder of the season, forcing him to miss a couple games to rest it.
Grzelcyk struggled in the playoffs and wound up sitting Games 6 and 7. While he didn’t want to use the shoulder injury as an excuse, he acknowledged that it was tough to play through.
“It was quite difficult,” Grzelcyk said. “Just not feeling like myself, obviously. Pain-wise, it would kind of keep popping in and out. That’s why I’d have to miss a game or two and wait for it to calm down. Unfortunately, I have to get surgery, but just looking forward to getting healthy again and start feeling like myself again.”
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There were two pieces of contract news. The Bruins announced a two-year extension for defenseman Jakub Zboril with an annual NHL cap hit of $1,137,500. They also announced a three-year entry-level contract for 2019 first-round pick Johnny Beecher that carries an annual NHL cap hit of $925,000.
Zboril, 25, appeared to finally be establishing himself as a regular NHL defenseman during the first half of this season, but then he suffered a torn ACL on Dec. 2 and underwent season-ending surgery.
Zboril said he has been skating for about four weeks now. He said he is still experiencing some discomfort when he does power skating drills, but that he expects to be good to go well ahead of next season. Zboril also said that he initially didn’t think his injury was as serious as it was. He was actually back in Boston walking around the Prudential Center with his girlfriend when he found out the results of his MRI.
Zboril adds even more depth to a Bruins defense that already has Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk, Mike Reilly, Derek Forbort and Connor Clifton under contract for next season. Grzelcyk's injury will reduce that group by one to start the season. It's possible the Bruins could look to trade a defenseman this offseason, too.
Beecher, 21, played nine games with the Providence Bruins on an amateur tryout agreement after wrapping up his junior season at the University of Michigan. The 6-foot-3 center had three goals and two assists in those nine games.
Beecher should get a shot to compete for a spot on the Bruins’ fourth line in training camp, although he may require more AHL seasoning before he’s NHL-ready.
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Brad Marchand said he will likely require surgery on something either this summer or next. He didn’t say exactly what.
Marchand also said he suffered an AC joint injury on Jan. 20 when Washington’s Garnet Hathaway hit him from behind. Marchand said he initially thought he was going to have to miss a couple weeks, but that he was ultimately able to play through it. He didn’t miss a game.
On an unrelated note, Marchand was wearing a Ramones t-shirt. When asked what his favorite Ramones song was, he confessed, “I’m not gonna lie to you, I have no idea who Ramone is. My wife gave it to me.”
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Hampus Lindholm said he still has some rehab to do on the knee injury he suffered on April 5 in Detroit. Lindholm missed two and a half weeks before returning for the final week of the regular season and the playoffs.
He said he was still discussing with the Bruins’ staff whether he would need to get some sort of injection to help the rehab process.
Lindholm said he and D partner Charlie McAvoy have bonded off the ice as well as on it, with McAvoy and his girlfriend helping Lindholm and his girlfriend get settled in Boston. Both are signed for the next eight years.
“Charlie’s a great guy,” Lindholm said. “Him and his girlfriend have been super sweet to me. Everyone on this team, the whole organization, has treated me so well. I’m super excited about that. He’s a really, really good player, and I think both of us can bring each other to a different level. I think we definitely have that in us.”
“That’s really nice of him,” McAvoy said when informed of Lindholm’s comments. “They’re great people. I couldn’t be happier that he’s here, that they’re here. Like I said, they’re great people. To know that we’re gonna be here together for a long time to come just makes me really happy. He’s a great person.”
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Jeremy Swayman said he felt good physically after handling the heaviest workload of his career. That notion was reinforced a couple hours later when Swayman was added to the United States’ roster for the IIHF World Championship, which is currently taking place in Finland. The U.S. is 2-1 in the tournament so far.
Swayman said he learned a lot this season and will be motivated to come back even better next season.
“I’m happy for the experiences that I’ve had so far. I’m telling you, it’s just added motivation,” he said. “I don’t want to feel how I felt a few days ago ever again, so I’m gonna make sure I do everything I can to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Swayman also said he would miss goalie partner Linus Ullmark this summer and joked that they might have to do some virtual goalie hugs.
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Anton Blidh sounded like someone who is ready to try his luck in another organization. The 27-year-old unrestricted free agent didn’t hide the fact that he was frustrated by his lack of playing time down the stretch, saying, “I didn’t sign here to just sit in the ninth floor of the press box.”
Blidh spent all season at the NHL level, but said there were times he actually wished he was in the AHL instead just so he could’ve been playing. His main competition for playing time was Trent Frederic and Nick Foligno, and Bruce Cassidy and his staff consistently stuck with those guys over Blidh, likely because they trusted them more in the defensive zone.
Blidh was drafted in 2013 and has been playing in either Providence or Boston since 2015. He has four goals and eight assists in 70 career NHL games. While his energy and physicality is appreciated, a fresh start somewhere else may be his best chance at regular NHL playing time.
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Jesper Froden and Josh Brown also said it was tough not playing more. Froden, 27, signed a one-year deal out of Sweden last offseason and is an unrestricted free agent this offseason. He wants more NHL playing time next season, whether it’s in Boston or elsewhere.
If the Bruins liked what they saw from Froden, who had one goal in seven NHL games this season, they could give him that shot. If they don’t have a spot for him, though, Froden may be looking elsewhere.
Brown was brought in from Ottawa at the trade deadline. While the Bruins likely never viewed him as much more than an eighth defenseman, he obviously wants to be more than that somewhere. Given the number of D already under contract, as mentioned earlier, it’s unlikely that chance would come in Boston.
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Curtis Lazar, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent, had just gotten out of his meeting with Sweeney when he met with the media. He said there was mutual interest in getting a new deal done, and that he wanted to stay in Boston, but that he also understood the business side.
The “business side” is that the Bruins are currently slated to have about $4.3 million in cap space this offseason, and that’s before a potential new contract for Bergeron if he decides to return. Lazar, who made just $800,000 this past season, and Bergeron are the only two regulars who are unrestricted free agents.
Lazar was the Bruins’ best fourth-liner this season and he led the team in hits, but the Bruins may not know for a while if they’re going to have enough money to re-sign him. That may depend on how much money they free up through other moves.
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While acknowledging that he dealt with a couple injuries during the season, Craig Smith said he was “all good” by the end.
That was a bit surprising to hear given the way his performance and ice time dropped off down the stretch. Smith had zero goals and four assists in the final 13 regular-season games, and then zero points in seven playoff games. He played just 11:51 per game in the playoffs, well below his 14:25 in the regular season.
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Derek Forbort said he loved living in the North End this year, and so did his dog. What did his dog love most? “She likes all the food on the ground. It’s a buffet-style for her.”
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Chris Wagner compared himself to Reg Dunlop from Slap Shot while discussing his role as a veteran leader in Providence most of the season. Wagner earned a late call-up and wound up playing three playoff games. He said Bergeron regularly checked in with him throughout the season. Wagner has one year left on his contract.