NHL free agency begins Tuesday at noon, and the Boston Bruins have been busy in the days leading up to it. In addition to welcoming a seven-man draft class, led by seventh overall pick James Hagens, general manager Don Sweeney has also re-signed seven of the Bruins’ own restricted free agents, highlighted by Morgan Geekie’s extension.
There is still plenty of work to do for Sweeney on July 1 and beyond, though, and the juiciest rumor to surface in recent days involves the possible return of a certain franchise legend. Let’s break it all down.
Who has already re-signed?
As mentioned, the Bruins have already extended seven of their pending restricted free agents, taking them off the market. They are:
F Morgan Geekie (6 years, $5.5 million AAV)
D Mason Lohrei (2 years, $3.2 million AAV)
D Henri Jokiharju (3 years, $3 million AAV)
F Marat Khusnutdinov (2 years, $925,000 AAV)
F Johnny Beecher (1 year, $900,000 AAV)
G Michael DiPietro (2 years, $812,500 AAV)
D Mike Callahan (1 year, $775,000 AAV)
In addition, they also signed undrafted Czech goalie Simon Zajicek to a one-year, $872,500 deal, and acquired defenseman Victor Soderstrom in a trade with Chicago before signing him to a one-year, $775,000 deal.
Who is going to market?
Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald reported over the weekend that the Bruins will not be tendering a qualifying offer to Jakub Lauko, making the forward an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday. As of Monday, pending UFAs Cole Koepke and Parker Wotherspoon have not been re-signed, nor has AHL goalie Brandon Bussi. Unless there’s a last-minute change, they will all be hitting the open market as well.
The Bruins have until Monday afternoon to issue qualifying offers to their AHL restricted free agents, a group that includes, among others, Georgii Merkulov, Oliver Wahlstrom, John Farinacci, Trevor Kuntar and Ian Mitchell. If any are not qualified, they will become UFAs on Tuesday. (UPDATE: The Bruins signed Merkulov to a one-year extension later Monday.)
Where does all that leave the roster?
If you pencil in a couple youngsters up front (namely Matt Poitras and Fraser Minten), the @BruinsCapSpace projection below looks right: 10 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies signed, with $12.83 million in cap space left to work with.
Barring a trade, the defense seems to be set, with Callahan in line to take over Wotherspoon’s seventh D role. Soderstrom could also make a push on the right side. This group could certainly use a top-four upgrade on the right side at some point, but that may not be in the cards this summer if the Bruins prioritize offensive help instead.
Goaltending might be set, although the DiPietro signing does open up the possibility of trading Joonas Korpisalo to free up more money (he has a $3 million cap hit) and making DiPietro the backup. It’s worth noting that DiPietro would need to clear waivers to be sent to Providence, and given that there was rumored interest in him from other teams, that would be a risk.
Up front is where there is clearly work to do. The Bruins have a glaring need for a legitimate top-six forward, another top-nine forward, and possibly a depth guy as well. Whether they can do all that this week, with what they have left in cap space, remains to be seen.
Could Marchand really return?
UPDATE: NO! Marchand will not be getting to the open market. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported late Monday that Marchand is closing in on a six-year extension with the Panthers worth $5.33 million per year. So, low AAV, but SIX years for a 37-year-old.
This section as originally written earlier in the day appears below:
When it comes to improving the forward group, the juiciest report to emerge so far came from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, who reported on Sunday that the Bruins would be among the teams hoping to talk to Brad Marchand on Tuesday if he does not re-sign with Florida before then.
The Panthers have made it known that they would love to keep Marchand, but they also have just $11 million in cap space with only 17 players signed. Barring a trade off the roster or Marchand taking a decent-sized discount to stay, the math may not work.
Neither Marchand nor Sweeney closed the door on a summer reunion after the March 7 trade. It did seem unlikely just based on the fact that they had all season to find common ground on a new contract and never did. Marchand wanted more than $7 million a year, while the Bruins were unwilling to go much higher than his current cap hit of $6.125 million.
But perhaps the Bruins would be willing to offer more now after surveying their other potential options on the open market. And maybe the sting that Marchand felt after not getting offered what he wanted by the only team he’d ever known has worn off now that he’s won another Stanley Cup and enjoyed an extended sunny celebration.
From a roster perspective, Marchand’s fit is obvious. While he played on Florida’s third line, he can clearly still perform at a top-six level when healthy, and the Bruins need a top-six forward.
In the room, Marchand would presumably be welcomed back with open arms. But you do wonder if there would be any awkward feelings after he went to a rival to win a Cup. David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy have been gearing up to take over as team leaders, too, and a Marchand return might make it “his” team again. Those kinds of things can be a non-issue if everyone’s on the same page, but they are worth mentioning.
TSN's Darren Dreger reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Utah Mammoth are also expected to make a run at Marchand if he gets to the open market.
Who else is available?
Mitch Marner remains the biggest name on the free-agent market. The Bruins do not appear to be among the serious suitors for the career Maple Leaf, who was linked to Vegas in a possible sign-and-trade over the weekend. (UPDATE: That sign-and-trade was reportedly finalized late Monday, with Marner agreeing to an eight-year, $12 million AAV deal with the Golden Knights.)
After Marner and Marchand, the other big UFA forwards are 29-year-old Nik Ehlers and 28-year-old Brock Boeser. AFP Analytics projects both to get six-year deals with an AAV in the range of $8-8.5 million. A thin market could potentially push those numbers even higher.
Ehlers is a left-shot speedster who plays a more complete all-around game. He had 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 69 games for Winnipeg this past season, the fourth time he has eclipsed 60 points in his career. Boeser is a right shot who has a little more size (6-foot-1, 208 pounds) and is more of a natural goal-scorer, but he has also struggled with consistency at times. After putting up a career-high 40 goals and 73 points in 2023-24, he dropped down to 25 goals and 50 points for Vancouver this past season.
Either could be a good fit in the Bruins’ lineup, but it all comes down to price, and Boston’s willingness to bet on one of them into his mid-30s.
After that, the next tier is probably veterans like Patrick Kane (UPDATE: Kane re-signed with Detroit) and Mikael Granlund, followed by players like Andrei Kuzmenko (UPDATE: Kuzmenko re-signed with the Kings), Pius Suter, Jonathan Drouin and Andrew Mangiapane. Like I said, it gets thin pretty quickly - and only got thinner as Monday went on.
On the RFA market, which would require an offer sheet and/or trade, Minnesota center Marco Rossi is the name that has popped up the most in trade rumors. He had 60 points (24 goals, 36 assists) as a 23-year-old last season and is certainly talented, but he’s also 5-foot-9, and how he’ll hold up in an elevated role is a fair question.
Matthew Knies already re-signed with Toronto, so that offer sheet dream is dead. The Rangers would appear to have enough money now to match any offer sheet for Will Cuylle. Same goes for the Ducks with Mason McTavish, the Jets with Gabriel Vilardi, the Blue Jackets with Dmitri Voronkov, or just about any other RFA name you want to throw out there.
On the trade market, St. Louis’ Jordan Kyrou and Colorado’s Martin Necas would be the sexiest names that have at least been rumored to be available. Kyrou, 27, is signed through 2031 at $8.125 million per year. Necas, 26, is signed for one more year at $6.5 million and would only make sense if there’s a big extension ready to go. Either would cost multiple premium assets. Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust or Seattle’s Jared McCann could be a more realistic target.
The Bruins are going to do something this week to improve their forward group. That much is clear. What exactly that is, we're about to find out.