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It’s almost the middle of the July and all has seemed too quiet in the Hub, even if things have seemed busy. Though the Boston Bruins have made two minor signings (towering defenseman
Christopher Breen and veteran American Hockey League goaltender
Jeremy Smith), they still need to hammer out new contracts for
Torey Krug,
Reilly Smith and a few other restricted free agents, and just signed
Matt Bartkowski to a one-year, $1.25 million contract.
That and they need to figure out who’s adding some scoring to the wing to help lessen (because let’s be honest, you’re not replacing) the loss of
Jarome Iginla.
The B’s already missed on taking a flier on the 33-year-old
Dany Heatley, who signed a one-year deal with the Anaheim Ducks worth $1 million. Many seemed to think that Heatley, though a lefty shot, could be a fit in Boston based on his old Ottawa connection with B’s general manager
Peter Chiarelli, and would fit their price range. Relegated to a fourth-line role with the Minnesota Wild in 2013-14 (he scored 12 goals in 76 games this year), Heatley’s still a player with a natural goal-scoring touch that could benefit from the right center feeding him the puck -- be it on the Bruins’ top line with
David Krejci or even on the third line with
Carl Soderberg.
But out of left field, Heatley was a Duck. And that was the end of that idea.
Some other names remain on the market however -- like
Peter Mueller,
Devin Setoguchi, and veteran complementary scorer
Lee Stempniak -- but it doesn’t sound the Black-and-Gold are willing to open their wallets up via free agency just yet.
From a
CSNNE story last weekend:
A Bruins source told CSNNE.com that the team may stand pat, but would be more likely to add a right wing via trade if they decide to upgrade.
“If we do anything at all it would be a trade rather than a free agent signing at this stage,” said the source. “We’ll see what happens.”
So, that’s interesting.
“There are guys out there at we are looking at right now. We’ve got some internal guys that you might be able to put in that are ready or very close to being ready,” Chiarelli said on Sunday when asked about his summertime need for a right winger to plug in on the Boston roster. “Part of the master scheme here is that we’ve got some players here whose deals are coming up that we have to sign and they are important players. I’m not diminishing the value of the younger players but we want to try and keep as much of the core players together as possible. Part of that formula is that you’re going to have to pay them some money and then as a result you’re going to have to get the younger guys in.”
I think it’s an undeniable truth that Chiarelli would like to move some pieces out of town. Namely bottom six forward
Jordan Caron and one of his nine NHL defensemen. The initial problem here is that Caron’s value is insanely low at this point, and moving a guy like a Bartkowski,
Kevan Miller, or
David Warsofsky won’t free up the cap space to bring a bonafide forward in.
(This is without mentioning that Caron and Warsfosky don’t have contracts yet, either.)
Naturally, this forces you to look elsewhere. Perennial Norris finalist
Zdeno Chara isn’t going anywhere, so you can put that idea to bed. The B’s can’t wait to get
Dennis Seidenberg back in their lineup, and he just signed an extension last season, so he’s staying here.
Dougie Hamilton is your franchise defenseman of tomorrow, and the undersized-but-fearless Krug has made strides as a legitimate and downright lethal power-play specialist for the club.
That leaves the Bruins with two interesting (albeit unfortunate) trade candidates here--
Johnny Boychuk and
Adam McQuaid. Not only do they have Cup experience, but At 30 (Boychuk) and 27 (McQuaid), both are entering and/or are in the prime of their careers as NHL defensemen. They’re also modestly priced (especially based on the inflation for d-men around the league this year), and both are unrestricted free agents at the end of Boston’s 2014-15 campaign.
They also have two entirely different stories in terms of where they’re at.
In the case of McQuaid, injuries are the biggest concern. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, the 6-foot-5 defender has missed a combined 91 games (including 19 playoff games) due to injury. They’ve varied from concussions to quads, too, which tells you about the dude’s just plain rotten luck over the past couple of seasons, but his inability to stay in the lineup has certainly hurt his stock.
But when he
does play, McQuaid is one of the better bottom pairing defensemen around, and proves to be a real defensive safety net for a more offensive oriented guy like a Krug or Warsofsky. And with
Shawn Thornton gone, McQuaid is probably the B’s closest thing to a legitimate heavyweight in the fight department as they’d prefer to limit the amount of scraps that guys like top line forward
Milan Lucic and the 37-year-old captain
Zdeno Chara engage in.
Now, the biggest problem with moving McQuaid is that you’re not going to get a strong return for him until he proves himself to be a healthy contributor, and I’m not sure that a solid training camp maximizes that value. It’s tough to envision the B’s getting anything beyond a pick or prospect for McQuaid in the summer or September for that matter, and that’s probably not worth it given his value to the Bruins and past resume and modest $1.566 million cap-hit in 2014-15.
The Bruins want legitimate assets in return for a proven defenseman, you’d think.
The same bottom line can be said for Boychuk, too. Perhaps even more so.
Boychuk has been your classic late blooming defenseman. Honing his game in Providence, Boychuk’s rise from part-time call-up to legitimate No. 2 defenseman has taken time, but has been well worth it for the Black-and-Gold. But on the subject of ‘worth’, it’s tough to envision a scenario where the B’s can afford to keep No. 55 in town when his contract runs up at the end this upcoming season. It’s a defensive world now, and you’ve seen that across the board this summer with massive contracts to guys like
Matt Niskanen,
Brooks Orpik, and
Anton Stralman, and you know that there’s a team out there that’d be more than willing to throw a whole lot of money at Boychuk come July 2015. And odds are that they’ll be able to pay him more than the Bruins could.
If you’re trading Boychuk, however, you’ll
have to get something of considerable value in return. Especially when teams like the New York Islanders are looking for defensive help. In a perfect world (and probably not this reality), the only way you’re moving Boychuk to a team like the Isles would be if you’re receiving a piece like
Kyle Okposo in return. A depth winger like the
Michael Grabner or
Cal Clutterbuck doesn’t balance that trade out. And though the Bruins aren’t operating from a position of strength in regards to their cap situation, Boychuk is a commodity that you’re not moving for mere salary dump purposes, and I think that that’s clear.
Personally, I find it hard to believe that Matt Bartkowski will be playing his hockey in Boston as a $1.25 million defenseman. He’s really not plugged in as one of your top sixers, and you’re not paying a seventh defenseman that kind of money when you’re as tight against the cap as the B’s are. I think the ultimate end goal for No. 43 is a trade that lands him elsewhere, but that still doesn’t free up the cap space you’d need to re-sign Krug, Smith,
Matt Fraser, and even Caron (if you do).
But that won’t happen overnight, as Chiarelli confirmed that it’ll be a ‘dead spot’ for the team coming up, with the B’s general managing opting for a week-long fishing trip.
Maybe he can reel in a couple million or so…
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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