Bruins eye Ilya
On short list to sign winger Kovalchuk
The Washington Capitals have not even sobered up from their Stanley Cup win last week, but the offseason, with all its plots and subplots, is well underway.
And the Bruins are in the chase for one of the more interesting free agents on the market.
Two Canadian-based reporters, TSN’s Darren Dreger and the Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, reported the B’s are one of the top contenders for the aging but still productive scorer Ilya Kovalchuk. The 35-yearold right winger wants to return to the NHL after a successful five-year run with KHL powerhouse St. Petersburg SKA.
General manager Don Sweeney confirmed yesterday that he has spoken to the Russian star’s people. Other teams mentioned as top-tier contenders for Kovalchuk are the Kings, Sharks and Rangers.
If the Bruins were to sign Kovalchuk, that would presumably mean they would not be re-signing top-six winger Rick Nash. Kovalchuk is 14 months older than Nash, who will turn 34 on Saturday.
Kovalchuk was a pointa-game player in his time in the NHL, posting 417399-816 totals in 816 career games. The first overall draft pick of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers in 2001, Kovalchuk did not get much Stanley Cup playoff experience until he led the New Jersey Devils to the finals in 2012. During that run, Kovalchuk had eight goals and 11 assists in 23 playoff games.
He had 31-32-63 totals in 53 games for St. Petersburg last season.
Kovalchuk could be a more natural fit on the right side of either David Krejci or Patrice Bergeron than Nash, who is a left shot. The rest of the free agent market isn’t bursting with top-six right-shooting wings. After Kovalchuk and Nash, the top right-shooting wings scheduled to be unrestricted free agents are 30-yearold David Perron, who had a good year with Vegas (1650-66), and old Bruins killer Thomas Vanek, who had 24-32-56 totals in 80 games between Vancouver and Columbus. Vanek will turn 35 in January.
Kovalchuk would give the B’s options in their top-six group. They could put his 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame on the right side of Krejci and keep their explosive first line together, or drop David Pastrnak to play with Czech countryman Krejci — the pair played well together in the world championships — and left winger Jake DeBrusk and have Kovalchuk play with Bergeron and left winger Brad Marchand. That would make for a pretty explosive top two lines.
The B’s also have some young in-house options to fill the hole in the top six if they strike out on both Kovalchuk and Nash. Left-shot winger Anders Bjork started last season on Bergeron’s right wing and could get another look there. Left shot forward Ryan Donato provided a spark down the stretch. Left shot winger Peter Cehlarik has shown flashes in his call-ups to the NHL. Ryan Fitzgerald, yet another left shot forward, had a very good rookie pro season in Providence (21 goals in 65 games).
Speaking at the scouting combine in Buffalo two weeks ago, Sweeney didn’t sound like he wanted to double down on the youth movement he started last year, unless some kids force his hand.
“While we’ve been committed to young player integration, I am not just going to say, ‘OK next guy’s up. It’s a young player and he’s going in,’ ” Sweeney said. “He has to earn that. We’ll continue to add competition, be it from outside or re-signing players,”
The B’s, meanwhile, should have some money at their disposal. With a little over $66 million committed to next season’s roster, the salary cap is expected to go up to about $80 million, possibly as high as $82 million. They still have to sign RFAs-to-be Matt Grzelcyk and center Sean Kuraly, as well as backup goalie Anton Khudobin, who is scheduled to be a UFA on July 1. That should still leave them enough left to go after Kovalchuk.