After losing Torey Krug, the biggest question mark on the Bruins' roster is clearly the left side of their defense. Two very good left-shot defensemen got traded for scraps in cap-clearing moves Monday, and the best left-shot D remaining on the free agent market signed a cheap one-year prove-it deal.
Where were the Bruins?
It's a question worth asking. Of course we must lead with the disclaimer that the offseason is not over. It's entirely possible that general manager Don Sweeney still has something up his sleeve.
But the longer the Bruins go without doing something, and the more moves that get done elsewhere, the harder it becomes to have faith.
The first move Monday afternoon that made you think, "Hey, he would've been good for the Bruins," was the Islanders' trade of Devon Toews to the Avalanche for two second-round picks.
Toews (no relation to Jonathan) is a 26-year-old restricted free agent who played in, and played well in, a top-four role last season, but whom the Islanders decided to trade as they prioritize other players they need to sign.
Second-round picks, especially late second-round picks like Colorado's or Boston's are expected to be, are no sure thing, so trading two of them for a sure thing in his prime years should be an easy call. The Avs beat the B's to the punch, though.
Less than an hour after the Toews trade, news broke that the Flyers had signed Erik Gustafsson to a one-year, $3 million deal. Gustafsson had a monster breakout season two years ago with 17 goals and 60 points, but took a big step back this past season, finishing with six goals and 29 points while also struggling defensively.
The 28-year-old is not a player you'd want to invest big years or money in since you may never get anything close to that 2018-19 season again. But a relatively cheap one-year prove-it deal? That's a worthwhile gamble -- one the Flyers were willing to take and the Bruins apparently weren't.
On Monday night, the biggest free agent domino finally fell, as defenseman Alex Pietrangelo signed a seven-year, $61.6 million deal with the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Bruins were never in on Pietrangelo by general manager Don Sweeney's own admission. That was understandable -- as great as Pietrangelo is, that's a lot of years and money to invest in a soon-to-be 31-year-old. Plus Pietrangelo plays the right side, where the Bruins already have Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.
But Pietrangelo's signing set up the third D bargain of the day, as the Golden Knights needed to make another move to free up money in order to fit Pietrangelo under the cap.
That move wound up being a trade of left-shot defenseman Nate Schmidt to the Canucks for a third-round pick. It was the kind of meager return you'd expect to see when a team is just trying to dump a bad contract.
Here's the thing, though: Schmidt isn't a bad contract. The 29-year-old certainly isn't cheap, as he has five years left on his deal with an annual cap hit of $5.95 million.
But he's a good player who does just about everything well and can help any team's top four. He's a good skater and very good puck-mover. He's not going to put up huge offensive numbers, but he has registered at least 30 points in each of the last three seasons. He's played at least 21 minutes per game in each of those three seasons as well, he kills penalties, and he played on Vegas' second power-play unit. He has played more on the right side in recent years, but has also played on the left in the past.
Schmidt played pretty tough minutes in his three years in Vegas, facing top competition, starting more shifts in the defensive zone than offensive zone, and still posting positive possession numbers, although his defensive analytics did take a little bit of a dip this past season. He isn't overly physical, but he is 6-foot-1, so he's not undersized by any means.
The Bruins could have afforded his contract, and they certainly could have afforded to give up more than a third-round pick. But they didn't make the deal and Vancouver did.
Was Sweeney even involved on Toews, Gustafsson or Schmidt? You would hope so. This is a team that reportedly seriously considered trading for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and his enormous contract. Given what that trade would've cost, the Toews and Schmidt trades wound up looking like better options all things considered.
The lack of action as more deals continue to get done has led some to wonder if maybe the Jacobs family has ordered Sweeney to not spend to the cap ceiling. Given how much revenue Delaware North has missed out on with no fans in arenas buying concessions, how many people they have already laid off, and their history of penny-pinching, it wouldn't be shocking.
But saving $12 million now while hurting your crown jewel team down the road and giving fans less to get excited about doesn't seem like it would be great for business either.
As we mentioned off the top, the offseason isn't over yet. Sweeney could still make a splash or two. The Bruins are still popping up in various rumors, including one on Monday involving extremely underrated defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (a right shot who plays on the left side) -- but that seemed to be contingent on the Panthers first acquiring Nate Schmidt, which they didn't do.
At some point very soon, the Bruins are going to have to stop just being "in on" players and actually get something done. Otherwise they'll be worse than last year and that much closer to closing the championship window.
