Bruins wade into big week
No pick in last night’s first round, but could there be big moves on tap?
The Bruins went into Tuesday’s first round of the NHL draft empty-handed, having dealt their first pick to the Anaheim Ducks in the Ondrej Kase acquisition.
But with some teams tight against the flat salary cap and good players expected to be available on the trade market and more in free agency, there is anticipation that the B’s – not scheduled to make a draft pick until No. 58 on Wednesday – will be among the teams who could make some significant changes.
It at least appears that the B’s are still in the mix for Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, with TSN reporting that the players’ agent has set a Friday deadline for a trade with the Bruins or Canucks, the two teams to whom the no-movement clause-toting defenseman has agreed to be traded.
It has been reported that the Coyotes’ prefer the B’s prospect pool over Vancouver’s. But if the Coyotes had designs on the B’s top prospect, center Jack Studnicka, it doesn’t appear from this angle that the B’s are in any position to act, given that their top two centers, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, are a lot closer to the end of their careers than the beginning. Studnicka appears to be very much a part of their future.
Meanwhile, neither team possessed a pick in Tuesday’s first round, which makes any potential deal difficult for either
team, as does Ekman-Larsson’s gargantuan contract that calls for him to be paid an average of $8.25 million for seven more years.
Meanwhile, an ancient rival changed their look with the acquisition of a player who, if healthy, would have fulfilled team president Cam Neely’s desire to add some skilled physicality. The Montreal Canadiens traded Max Domi and a third-round pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for bruising right wing Josh Anderson. The 26-year-old Anderson was limited to just 26 games last season because of a shoulder injury, but two years ago he gave a glimpse into his potential when he scored 27 goals in 82 regular season games. He had only 1-2-3 totals in 10 playoff games that year, but he was still a handful in the B’s six-game playoff victory over the Blue Jackets.
Anderson has also taken on some of the toughest customers in the league in fisticuffs, including Zdeno Chara. A healthy Anderson, a restricted free agent who still has to hammer out a deal with the Canadiens, could have been a fan favorite in Boston, but that won’t happen.
The Bruins most likely didn’t have much of a chance on this one. One of their more marketable players on whom they appear to be at least willing to listen to offers is restricted free agent Jake DeBrusk. Though he had a down year last season, Domi is the more accomplished NHL player (he had a 72-point season two years ago) than DeBrusk and, of paramount importance to Columbus, he can play in the middle.
“Strengthening our center ice position has been a priority for our club,” said Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalianen in a statement after the trade.
And as we’ve pointed out, the B’s don’t exactly have centers to spare.
If the B’s are unable to swing a trade over the next few days, there is the opening free agency on Friday, with a long list of interesting names which may grow by 5 p.m. on Wednesday when NHL teams’ qualifying offers are due for restricted free agents. At the top of the list are left wings Taylor Hall and Mike Hoffman, on the right there’s Tyler Toffoli and Bobby Ryan.
How willing teams are to sink long-term, big money deals into top tier free agents in these currently uncertain financial times remains to be seen. Barring any deal, the B’s still have to sign RFAs DeBrusk, Matt Grzelcyk, Karson Kuhlman and Zach Senyshyn. The B’s have approximately $15 million in cap space.
“Well, it certainly has played a factor in how we look at things and I think every team has treaded lightly in that regard,” said GM Don Sweeney on Monday. “You just have so much uncertainty outside of maybe players or teams that will go to arbitration where you can sort of prepare accordingly in the vacuum so to speak because those cases are going to be what they are. Everything else is sort of a complete unknown and it’s a guess work. Obviously some teams may be aggressive, and other teams may not. We’re trying to assess where our current RFAs are and where they fall and then how aggressive to be in the open marketplace or to stand back and wait to see if other teams need to do things accordingly and react. I think we’re in a decent position that way, we have some flexibility, we’re not tight in some of those situations. And we’ve got to make some hard decisions. I think every club in the league has to make hard decisions in that regard. The element of the unknown is certainly a factor here in terms of what our season moving forward is going to look like, and there’s probably only a few people in our business that have maybe the most knowledge to be able to help you, but I might not be one of them in that regard. We’re all trying to gather the same information and how we’re going to look moving forward. But my job is to try to improve this hockey club and that’s what we’re trying to do both through the draft or through free agency or through acquisition.”