What to expect from Bruins after their free-agent moves
We knew the Bruins were going to be shopping in the bargain bin this free agency period given their salary cap situation, and that’s exactly what general manager Don Sweeney did on Saturday.
Milan Lucic is back on a one-year deal worth $1 million, plus up to $500,000 in performance bonuses. Veteran forward James van Riemsdyk is also in on a one-year deal worth $1 million, as is Stanley Cup-winning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. The Bruins also added Morgan Geekie (two years, $2 million average annual value) and Patrick Brown (two years, $800,000 AAV) on NHL deals up front. Forwards Jayson Megna and Anthony Richard and defenseman Parker Wotherspoon agreed to one-year, two-way contracts.
So, where does all this leave the Bruins’ 2023-24 roster? They now have 10 forwards, seven defensemen and one goalie signed to one-way NHL contracts. Four or five more players are needed to fill out the roster, but some of those could be prospects or new two-way signings who win a roster spot.
The Bruins have $6.2 million in cap space after Saturday, according to CapFriendly. Most of that is earmarked for restricted free agents Jeremy Swayman, Trent Frederic and Jakub Lauko, who have received qualifying offers but have not yet signed new contracts. If Patrice Bergeron ultimately decides to return, they’ll need money for him as well, even if it’s another team-friendly deal.
Just for the sake of visualizing this roster, here’s what it could look like with Swayman, Frederic and Lauko in the fold, but leaving out Bergeron and David Krejci for now.
FORWARDS
Brad Marchand – Pavel Zacha – David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk – Charlie Coyle – Jake DeBrusk
Jakub Lauko – Trent Frederic – Morgan Geekie
Milan Lucic – Patrick Brown – A.J. Greer
Jayson Megna
DEFENSE
Matt Grzelcyk – Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm – Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort – Kevin Shattenkirk
Jakub Zboril
GOALIES
Linus Ullmark
Jeremy Swayman
Obviously, that forward group would look a heck of a lot better with Bergeron or another top-two center that could bump Coyle down, not to mention another top-six winger that could bump van Riemsdyk down to the third line, where he’s a better fit at this point in his career.
Either Taylor Hall (traded to Chicago) or Tyler Bertuzzi (expected to sign elsewhere) sure would look nice, but Sweeney obviously determined that he couldn’t afford either. Gone too are Dmitry Orlov (to Carolina), Connor Clifton (to Buffalo), Nick Foligno (to Chicago), Garnet Hathaway (to Philadelphia) and probably Tomas Nosek (still a free agent).
There will be opportunities for youngsters to battle for jobs. Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, Johnny Beecher, Marc McLaughlin and Oskar Steen could all be candidates up front, as could new signings Anthony Richard and Jayson Megna. There aren’t as many obvious opportunities on defense, but new acquisitions Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Reilly Walsh and Parker Wotherspoon could get a look, as could top prospect Mason Lohrei.
“With the congestion of the marketplace as it relates to the cap and where we were, I think we did a lot of the things that we set out to do in addressing the depth overall of our club,” Sweeney said. “We have plenty of opportunity for younger kids to come in and take their place if they earn it, but we’ve also complemented the group with players we felt we needed to fill some holes and address some needs.”
Sweeney is also optimistic that Geekie can improve on his career-high 28 points with more opportunity. There is some reason to believe that. The soon-to-be 25-year-old center/wing ranked 10th in the NHL in 5-on-5 assists per 60 minutes among 382 qualified forwards.
“A bigger centerman. He’s played wing as well,” Sweeney said of Geekie. “We talked a lot about Freddy [Trent Frederic] going to the middle of the ice. He’s a left shot, so now you have lefty, righty that might be able to go into the third line and provide depth scoring for us. Freddy had 17 goals last year and was productive. Geekie played just over 10 minutes on a really good Seattle team. Could he get into an elevated position and produce more? Could he still have that high-end production five-on-five? He's played bumper on the power play. He has a really good release as a right shot.”
If Sweeney has any intention of making an impact addition other than Bergeron, someone else would have to go. The Bruins could still trade a defenseman (Grzelcyk or Forbort) or a goalie (Ullmark or Swayman), but it remains unclear exactly what the market is for any of them. Sweeney could hold onto all of them if he can’t find a deal that makes sense, even if that means rolling with a weaker forward group.
The Bruins did add some size up front Saturday, which was clearly a priority. The goaltending is still strong and the defense looks pretty solid. This is by no means a teardown. Instead, it’s a lot of short-term band-aids to try to remain competitive until the cap goes up and Sweeney has more money to play with next year.
“I think I was pretty honest that we weren’t going to be the same team,” Sweeney said. “We had an incredible amount of depth and we felt that we put together a good team, but we fell woefully short in the playoffs with what our goals were. We know we’re a competitive group and we want to remain a competitive group, and with an eye towards the future. We didn’t really encumber ourselves too badly from a standpoint of contracts.”
This absolutely could still be a playoff team. But as things stand today, whether the Bruins can be a true contender likely hinges on whether there’s a Bergeron return and/or another meaningful upgrade up front.
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