There hasn’t been much in the way of concrete answers when it comes to the Bruins’ pending free agents, but that’s about to change.
Teams have until 5 p.m. on Wednesday to submit qualifying offers to their restricted free agents. Free agency then opens at noon on Friday, at which time unrestricted free agents will be free to sign with any team, and restricted free agents will be able to sign either the qualifying offer from their current team or an offer sheet from another team.
For the Bruins, Torey Krug and Zdeno Chara remain their biggest UFAs, while Matt Grzelcyk and Jake DeBrusk highlight their RFA class.
Speaking to the media via Zoom on Monday, general manager Don Sweeney provided updates on where things stand with Krug, Chara and the team’s other free agents.
As far as Krug is concerned, there was a report last week that the Bruins may have been on the verge of trading his negotiating rights, but that has not yet happened.
Sweeney said the Bruins “haven’t had any progress as far as Torey,” but that he would “consider anything.”
“We’d consider anything at this point in time, including the fact that several free agents have gone and tested the market and come back to the same place that they were at,” Sweeney said. “That’s something we would also consider. There's no way in hell you're going to change my opinion of what I think Torey has the right to do, and I believe that.
“So, he’s put himself in a great position either with us or with other teams that have interest in him. I’ll listen to any situation that might improve our hockey club and move forward from there if it plays out that way.”
Sweeney said he still doesn’t hold any animosity towards Krug and respects his right to see what kind of deals are out there.
“There's no animosity whatsoever in this situation with this player,” Sweeney said. “Every team has sticky deals and trying to thread the needle, so to speak, in this day and age with the salary cap and competitive environment that we're all in and trying to win. Those things collide.”
On Chara, the longtime Bruins captain has made it clear he wants to remain with Boston next season. He also said he hoped to get a deal done sooner than later, but that obviously hasn’t happened.
Sweeney said communication with Chara and his agent has been ongoing, but he didn’t tip his hand as far as whether he thinks the two sides will get a deal done or not.
“I’ve met with Zdeno, had conversations,” Sweeney said. “We’ll continue to have conversations. We have to be on the same page as we move forward. We’ve conveyed where we are with that, and we’re going to continue to have communication with him and [agent] Matt Keator.”
Sweeney wouldn’t go into details about whether Chara’s role with the team has been central to those discussions or not.
“We’ve just had really broad-based discussions on everything,” he said. “Not really going to leave any stone unturned in terms of where we are. We’ve looked at that as part of our roster assessment, and making sure we communicate effectively with a very important part and leader of our hockey club.”
Sweeney did tip his hand regarding three other pending free agents, though, most notably revealing that he will not be aggressively pursuing a new deal with unrestricted free agent Joakim Nordstrom, who has served as a solid fourth-line left wing and key penalty-killer for the last two seasons.
“We’ve had a talk with Joakim Nordstrom, that it may be challenging for us as well, so we’ve had communication with [agent J.P. Barry] on that front,” Sweeney said. “I made sure I spoke with him, that I wasn’t going to be aggressive in trying to sign him in the short term. Didn’t mean we wouldn’t reconsider it, but I wanted to make sure he had an early head’s up.”
Sweeney also said he does not anticipate making qualifying offers to restricted free agents Brendan Gaunce and Brett Ritchie (to be clear, that is Brett Ritchie, not trade deadline acquisition Nick Ritchie, who is under contract for another season with a cap hit of just under $1.5 million). Both spent the vast majority of last season with AHL Providence.
In addition to Grzelcyk and DeBrusk, other Bruins RFAs include forwards Karson Kuhlman, Zach Senyshyn and Peter Cehlarik, and defensemen Jakub Zboril and Wiley Sherman.
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