With $12 million in cap space to work with, and three key pending restricted free agents to sign, it doesn’t sound like this will stop Bruins general manager Don Sweeney from bringing some new blood into the Bruins locker room when free agency begins Monday afternoon.
“Well, we’ve been in the interview period, so we’ve had a lot of discussions and some planning. Obviously, our entire staff has been here all week. We had several in and around the draft as well. We’re doing what the other teams are doing, you know, having conversations with representatives, gauging interest, trying to fill the holes that we feel we need to fill and being cognizant that we have to deal with our RFA players,” Sweeney said earlier this week.
“But as far as July, we’ll be adding some players, for sure come July 1.”
It’s expected that restricted free agents Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Danton Heinen will take up most, if not all of the Bruins remaining cap space.
Sweeney was in a similar position last July where the Bruins had just under $12 million in cap space to spend. With their available space, they were able to add John Moore, Jaroslav Halak, Chris Wagner and Joakim Nordstrom. But adding all those pieces without the burden of signing several restricted free agents made Sweeney’s job last summer much easier.
I am sure that Sweeney has an idea of how much of the available cap space Carlo, Heinen and McAvoy will take up, but without having ink to paper, it makes what Sweeney can and can’t do on Monday more difficult.
It also doesn’t sound like Sweeney knows exactly when deals with his three pending RFA’s will come.
“I don’t have a timeline for that [signing RFA’s], but they’ll be playing for Boston at some point in time this year prior to December 1. That’s the only real deadline we face, but we’ll be at it. We’ve been at it for a while with those guys,” added Sweeney.
With it extremely unlikely at this point that Sweeney will get deals done with the team’s RFA’s before free agency begins at noon Monday, Sweeney’s hands may be tied a bit to begin free agency.
Knowing where the roster is at, and what the Bruins have available to spend on Monday, Sweeney may be looking to the bargain bin to begin things in free agency.
The Bruins could look to their two unrestricted free agents to fill their holes in the lineup, but it sounds like they could be priced out of both Noel Acciari and Marcus Johansson.
“Yeah, we’ve extended offers to Noel prior to the interview period, continue to,” Sweeney said. “We’d like to have him back, but Noel’s put himself in a good position, and he’s going to hear what’s around league for what’s best for he and his wife.”
It’s hard to see Acciari back in Boston after a career-high 14 point season, and a coming season that will require Acciari to compete for a spot on the Bruins fourth line with a handful of forwards in the mix.
Most likely Acciari will get more money and a guaranteed role elsewhere.
According to reports, the Bruins were in the mix to resign Marcus Johansson, but now, with less than 24 hours until free agency begins, it looks like Johansson will play elsewhere in the 2019-20 season.
Regardless of what Sweeney’s free agency plans are, it would be wise for the Bruins to move some salary and create some breathing room.
When it comes to a trade, David Krejci ($7.25M) and Torey Krug ($5.25) are the two names Bruins fans like to throw out the most. But moving one of the above mentioned two doesn’t make sense to me. Sure, it fixes one problem, but it creates another.
David Backes's $6 million coming off the books would also be ideal, but making that happen is no easy task. Buying Backes out will only save $1,333,333 in total. Any trade of Backes would cost the Bruins a minimum of a first round pick (thank you Toronto) and would presumably require the Bruins to retain a portion of Backes' salary.
I also don’t see Sweeney moving a Krejci or a Krug to free up cap space to sign one of the bigger available fishes, like a Matt Duchene or an Artemi Panarin.
Ultimately, what I think Sweeney and the Bruins will target tomorrow will be low-risk, high-reward forwards that can move up and down the lineup, and possibly play a top-six role on the right wing. A position of need for several seasons now.
I just hope those low-risk, high-reward players that Sweeney targets are not more bottom-six guys. The Bruins have enough of those on their roster, and plenty that will be thrown into the competition for playing time when training camp rolls around.
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