B’s Sweeney just getting started
CHICAGO — The Bruins packed up operations and moved on from the Windy City with a half dozen kids in the system they hope can help three or four years down the road.
Now it’s time for general manager Don Sweeney to turn his attention back toward the more pressing issue — improving his team for the fall. It won’t be easy. Sweeney’s quest for a leftshot defenseman proved fruitless at the draft but chances are he’ll make another run at a deal leading into the opening of free agency at high noon on Saturday.
The acquisition of a leftshot ‘D’ is not imperative but would make their blueline six-pack fit together a whole lot better. As of now, the B’s have two left/ right pairs that make sense in Zdeno Chara/Brandon Carlo and Torey Krug/ Adam McQuaid. The third pair would force right-shot Kevan Miller to play on the left, keeping rookie Charlie McAvoy on his natural side.
Miller played on the left side a bit last year and it wasn’t a disaster, but he’s clearly a better player on the right. And you’d think after the B’s protected Miller in the expansion draft, they’d put him in position to succeed. Still, staying pat on defense might be the team’s best option
The Bruins were linked to Minnesota’s Marco Scandella over the weekend, though it’s not clear just how interested they were. Scandella would represent a big-time commitment to his remaining three-year, $4 million per year pact, especially if the B’s feel good with lefty prospects Rob O’Gara, Matt Grzelcyk, Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon.
Sweeney could look back toward the desert, where the tables may have turned a bit on Vegas GM George McPhee. Before the expansion draft, he did a great job of procuring draft picks from teams wishing to protect players. But now he has a surplus of defensemen, a dozen NHL-caliber blueliners, and he’s got to dish a few.
The top end guy there is Marc Methot, who has two more years at $4.9 million and could very well be the Knights’ first captain. He’d look good on the B’s blue line, but it would probably take a lot to pry him out of Vegas. Ditto for Nate Schmidt, someone McPhee would want to keep — a 25-year-old restricted free agent who might have the most upside of anyone on the roster.
What does that leave? Jason Garrison, Alexei Emelin, Luca Sbisa, Brayden McNabb, Clayton Stoner, Jon Merrill. Maybe Sweeney sees something there that he likes, maybe not.
Sweeney can start talking to free agents this week before the signing period opens, and there are two perfect candidates to fill spots on the Bruins from the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Leftshot defenseman Trevor Daley and third-line center Nick Bonino both could fill holes here. Daley may not be great in his own zone, but he’d be interesting in a Bruins uniform, though he’ll be 34 in October.
The 29-year-old Bonino would seem like a good replacement for Ryan Spooner, if the B’s should move on from the RFA center. Spooner’s days in Boston seemed numbered when he was a healthy scratch in the playoffs. Bonino, the Connecticut native and Boston University product, doesn’t have the power-player acumen of Spooner as most of his game is played at even strength.
The question facing both potential signings are the usual ones — term and money. And champions tend to get paid. The Capitals’ Karl Alzner hits the market, too, but he’ll be looking for a big deal on his first foray into unrestricted free agency.
Perhaps the best alternative is to stick with what the B’s have, re-sign RFA Joe Morrow as a seventh defenseman and hope O’Gara or Grzelcyk is ready. Remember at this time last year there was a desperate need for a right shot defenseman, and then Carlo showed up to camp.
The B’s displayed an upward trajectory when they made the playoffs, but make no mistake, they are still very much at a crossroads. With divisional rivals Toronto and Montreal figuring out ways to improve, especially on the back end, Sweeney’s next moves, or non-moves, could be critical to the Bruins continued path up the hill.