READY TO GO: B’s GEAR UP FOR CUP RUN
Training camp starts today, open Aug. 2 vs. Philadelphia
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy has said recently that the NHL’s Return To Play plan will not seem real to him until he’s in the dressing room and can see the white’s of his players’ eyes. Well, it’s about to get real. The Bruins will open a two-week training camp, officially known as Phase 3 of the RTP plan on which 23 other teams will be embarking, on Monday at Warrior Ice Arena.
In a Zoom call with reporters on Sunday morning, general manager Don Sweeney said there may be one or two international players who may still have to fulfill quarantine requirements (as of late last week, Czech-born players David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase had not yet been photographed by the club during voluntary workouts) but expected to have a full roster on the ice within a few days.
So far, only defenseman Steven Kampfer has opted out, his decision due to the fact that both his wife and son have congenital heart defects, a choice of which Sweeney said the club was in full support. Rosters will be finalized by Monday at 5 p.m.
Teams are scheduled to take off for their hub cities on July 26, with the Bruins among the dozen going to Toronto, and their first round-robin game is scheduled against the Philadelphia Flyers for August 2 at Scotiabank Arena..
But Phase 3 represents a pretty big hump to get over. Players from various parts of the North American continent and Europe will be returning to their team cities and some training camps will be held in COVID-19 hotspots like Florida, Texas and Nevada.
What level of outbreak will trigger a postponement or canceling of games is not exactly clear at this point, but even if the league is able to pull this off, Sweeney is expecting some adversity along the way.
“Positive tests are going to happen. It will be a real test to your group and I think our group is really strong in that regard,” said Sweeney.
Even if the B’s can avoid the virus, there will be plenty of challenges that every team will face. One of those is a relatively short run-up period to meaningful games. The B’s will be playing in a round robin with the Lightning, Flyers and Capitals to determine seeding once the play-in series are over. Sweeney said that the players have to hit the ground running, but the club will be careful not to move too fast n this training camp period.
“The players have to understand that there’s a very short window to get back up to speed,” said Sweeney. “You’ve got to be ready. We’re not going to hit the ice for three hours on Monday. … We’ll incrementally move up the pace of practice … and make sure we’re in full concert with our players on how they’re feeling. We have the benefit of a strong leadership group that can hopefully lead us in some of those areas.”
Sweeney also said preparing for the round-robin/ playoff structure poses problems.
“That’s the biggest challenge,” said Sweeney. “In years past, we’ve known who our opponents were going to be well in advance. The pre-scout takes on a wider lens preparing for three teams and then you’re not going to know who your playoff opponent is going to be. So we’re at a disadvantage. … In the round robin,
you want to win them all, but if you don’t, you can regroup and move on from there. Preparation has to take on a wider viewpoint.”
The league and the players didn’t just ratify the RTP protocols on Friday night, but also an extension to the collective bargaining agreement that guarantees labor peace through the 2025-26 season. The new agreement will keep the salary cap flat ($81.5 million) next season and possibly beyond. Sweeney said he’d been making plans for various scenarios, even when the relatively rosy league estimates had the cap going as high as $88.2 million just a week before the coronavirus knocked the world off its axis.
The B’s are in better shape than some top teams – according to capfriendly.com, they’ll have just under $18 million in cap space for ’20-21 – but they won’t be unaffected by the constraints. Sweeney didn’t mention any names, but the highest impact player they’re in danger of losing is unrestricted free agent-tobe Torey Krug while Jake DeBrusk, Matt Grzelcyk and Anders Bjork will be restricted free agents. Sweeney will also need to come up with new contracts for Brandon Carlo, Charlie McAvoy and David Pastrnak, to name just a few, within the life of the new
CBA.
It could very well turn out that Krug’s terrific offensive talents, which will garner him great interest on the open market, are deemed a luxury the club won’t be able to afford in the coming years.
“We have some decisions to make and we may have to make some hard ones, no different from any other team,” said Sweeney.
The GM did not rule out having negotiations with players during camp or into the playoffs.
“I’ve never stated that we’ll never have conversations,” said Sweeney. “Ultimately I think we’ll have (conversations) case by case. I’m not going to overly aggressive as we go through Phase 3, going to Phase 4 and ultimately playing in the playoffs, but if something makes sense, well do it.”
But for now, it’s game on.