This is it. NHL free agency opens Friday at noon. As has been the case all offseason, there have been plenty of rumors and reports as it relates to the Bruins.
So far, all that chatter has resulted in little action. The Bruins haven't made any trades yet. They didn't do anything crazy during the draft this week. They made qualifying offers to all the restricted free agents to whom we expected them to make qualifying offers. And they haven't traded away any of their own free agents' negotiating rights.
But now it's time to turn talk into action. Now we find out what their actual plan for free agency is. Now we get answers on at least a couple rumored trades.
Here are seven things to watch for from a Bruins perspective as free agency begins:
1. Will the Bruins finalize a trade for Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
Ekman-Larsson and his agent gave the Coyotes a Friday deadline to trade him to either the Bruins or Canucks, as they want to have the matter settled before free agency starts. If nothing gets done Friday, he says he's staying in Arizona.
The latest reports are that the Coyotes are waiting for the Bruins to make their move, but that the Bruins "don't like the asking price," which is believed to be at least one high draft pick and at least one top prospect or NHL-ready young player.
Given that Ekman-Larsson will only waive his no-trade clause for two teams, and that he comes with an enormous seven-year contract that carries an annual cap hit of $8.25 million, the Coyotes don't exactly have a ton of leverage here.
Heading into Friday, it seems there's something of a three-way staring contest going on. The Coyotes are hoping either the Bruins or Canucks up their offer. The Bruins and Canucks are hoping the Coyotes decide to settle and take what they can get. If no one blinks, then Arizona may just hold onto Ekman-Larsson for the time being.
2. What's going to happen with Torey Krug?
Earlier this week, Bruins general manager Don Sweeney didn't rule out the possibility of Krug going out on the open market but ultimately ending up back in Boston.
That's probably wishful thinking, but it's not impossible to imagine. With a flat salary cap and financial uncertainty across the league when it comes to next season's revenue, it's possible that Krug may not find as big of a contract as he wants.
And from the Bruins' perspective, if they don't land Ekman-Larsson and don't love the market for other free-agent defensemen, they could certainly circle back to Krug, maybe increase their offer a little (their most recent was reportedly six years at $6.5 million per year), and become a player in those sweepstakes.
The safe bet remains Krug landing elsewhere, but don't completely rule out a return just because he hits the open market.
3. If Ekman-Larsson and Krug are out, will the Bruins go after another free agent defenseman?
It's hard to imagine the Bruins losing Krug and doing nothing to replace him. Even if they bring back Zdeno Chara, we know he's not a top-pairing defenseman any more, and maybe not even a top-four D. Matt Grzelcyk should be ready to move up to a top-four role, but maybe not a top-pairing role.
Ekman-Larsson is obviously the most talked about replacement, but what happens if they lose Krug and don't get Ekman-Larsson?
Well, things get interesting, because just about every other top free agent defenseman plays on the right side, where the Bruins already have Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.
Alex Pietrangelo is easily the best of the bunch, assuming he doesn't get a last-minute deal done with the Blues. It's going to take a massive contract to land the 30-year-old -- probably seven years at $8.5-9 million per year -- but if the Bruins are willing to entertain Ekman-Larsson's contract, we probably shouldn't rule out anything.
After that there are offensive defensemen Tyson Barrie and Kevin Shattenkirk. Barrie's value has taken a bit of a hit after his struggles in Toronto, so you'd be hoping for and expecting a bounce-back. Shattenkirk just had his bounce-back season and greatly increased his value with the Lightning, helping them win the Stanley Cup.
TJ Brodie is a left shot who prefers to play on the right side. He has been a solid top-four D for years, but has benefitted greatly from playing alongside Mark Giordano in Calgary. After that you quickly get into take-a-flyer territory with guys like Erik Gustafsson, Sami Vatanen and Travis Hamonic. Potential value signings Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo re-signed with Washington and Winnipeg, respectively, earlier this week.
4. What's going to happen with Zdeno Chara?
Chara has made it clear he wants to remain in Boston. He also said he wanted to get a deal done sooner than later, which hasn't happened.
Sweeney said earlier this week that he has been in communication with Chara's camp and will continue to be, but he didn't publicly tip his hand in terms of just how much of an effort he's going to make to re-sign the Bruins' longtime captain.
It would seem there is still a cheap and easy deal to be reached, but the Bruins may want to sort out some bigger-money items before circling back to see where Chara fits in. Despite what his critics might say, Chara is still a nice player to have on a third-pairing-money deal, especially given his leadership in the room.
One of the more shocking things that could happen on Friday or over the weekend would be for Chara to hit the open market and quickly sign with another team.
5. Will the Bruins be in on any top forwards?
There have been more rumors and theorizing than concrete reports on this front, as most of the attention has been focused on defense and goaltending with Krug, Ekman-Larsson, Chara and Tuukka Rask.
That doesn't mean the Bruins aren't looking for forward help, though. Secondary scoring was once again a problem this postseason, and the Bruins would prefer to find something resembling a surefire middle-six scoring wing rather than having to hope their in-house options take the necessary steps forward.
The problem is that they don't have unlimited money -- in fact, they have about $16 million in cap space entering Friday. If they sign or trade for a big-money player on defense, they're not going to have enough to sign one of the top free agent forwards.
If they throw us all a curveball and decide to prioritize a forward, though, Taylor Hall is the clear No. 1 option, and he has said publicly that he is prioritizing winning over years and money… though that's obviously easier said than done once offers start getting thrown around. He'll still be expensive either way, and other teams have been connected to him much more than the Bruins.
Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman may get the most money after Hall, but buyers should beware: Dadonov's production and underlying numbers are in decline, and Hoffman is a defensive liability. Neither seems like the kind of player the Bruins would go after.
One player we know the Bruins like in a similar or slightly lower price range is Tyler Toffoli, whom the Bruins were reportedly in on leading up to this past trade deadline before he ultimately ended up in Vancouver, where he flourished. Mikael Granlund is another good two-way player in this price range, especially if you think his offense can bounce back after things just never clicked for him in Nashville.
Craig Smith is widely regarded as the best value signing in this free agent class given his consistent two-way production in a middle-six role… so much so that you wonder if everyone has caught on, potentially leading to a fairly robust market. Tyler Ennis could present some good bottom-six value, and Bobby Ryan could certainly be worth a flyer at the right cost after getting bought out.
On the trade market, the Bruins could target Winnipeg's Patrik Laine or Chicago's Brandon Saad if they want to make a splash. The 22-year-old Laine was closing in on a fourth straight 30-goal season at the time of the pause and carries a $6.75 million cap hit for this season before hitting restricted free agency next year. Saad is 27 and a stellar two-way player whose offense has ticked back up since a big dip in 2017-18. He has one year left on his contract with a $6 million cap hit.
6. Will they trade Tuukka Rask?
Sweeney's public comments this offseason have been that he has "zero reservations" about Rask and that Rask "remains a big part of" the Bruins' plans moving forward, but he also reportedly gauged Rask's trade value, and Rask's no-trade protections reportedly expire on Friday.
On Thursday, Rask spoke publicly for the first time since opting out of the playoffs to deal with a family emergency and said that he doesn't want to play for any team other than Boston.
We don't know what Sweeney found when he gauged Rask's value, but given the abundance of goalies available this offseason, it doesn't seem like any team would want to trade anything of significant value for one year of Rask when there are plenty of goalies they could sign without giving up anything other than money.
That said, Rask is better than any of the free agent goalies and coming off a second-place finish in Vezina Trophy voting, so maybe there is a market. That's all the more reason for the Bruins not to trade him, though.
They would need to go out and sign a replacement since Jaroslav Halak can't be trusted in a workhorse No. 1 role at this point and their young goalies probably aren't ready. But they're not going to find someone better, and they're not going to save a ton of money unless they really head to the bargain bin, which would be an odd move for a team hoping to compete for a Stanley Cup.
7. Will anything interesting happen with their restricted free agents?
Perhaps this question should actually just be, "Will anything interesting happen with Jake DeBrusk?" He is the only one of the six RFAs the Bruins qualified that there has been any sort of chatter around.
Grzelcyk is a key player to lock up, and the Bruins are expected to get that done. Karson Kuhlman, Zach Senyshyn, Jakub Zboril and Peter Cehlarik should all be pretty painless deals.
DeBrusk has been mentioned in a couple trade rumors, though, and there was also talk that there could be a fairly sizable gap between what the Bruins want to pay DeBrusk and what DeBrusk and his agent are looking for.
If the Bruins were to trade DeBrusk, it would certainly make it more likely they go out and get another forward via free agency or trade. As frustrating as DeBrusk's inconsistency can be, he's still a talented young forward and trading him without replacing him would only make your forward group worse.
