Boston Bruins 2023 Off-Season CAP, Trade Rumors and Free Agent Talk IX

[MarchysNoseKnows]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this post at all, so apparently we could not keep Hall because of the cap space.

Yet, we were in on Bertuzzi? Makes 0 sense.

There were moves to be made and he panicked.

Again, I'm not arguing that we should have kept Taylor Hall or not (even though I think we should have)

But Sweeney got hosed in the trade.

It's ironic that when Hall was traded here it was because of "Sweenius" not that Hall demanded to come here.

Now that we traded Hall and got hosed it's not his fault.

It's bad GMing and not cashing in on your assets.

What other trade this off-season would you compare to the Hall trade to say we got hosed?

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Debatable if losing a player of Hall's quality is worth saving a 2nd round pick to trade Forbort etc. Clearly the Bruins still plan on contending this season assuming Bergeron returns. Hall was a top six forward candidate this season, a role less easily replaced than Forbort and/or Gryz. They also did give away Hall for nothing.

You couldn't jut trade Forbert and make the money work to field a roster. So you would have had to move BOTH Gryz and Forbert instead of Hall. of course this would have left you with 3-7 on you defensive corp being near minimum contract players. that doesn't fix any problems for you

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

You couldn't jut trade Forbert and make the money go. So you would have had to move BOTH Gryz and Forbert instead of Hall. of course this would have left you with 3-7 on you defensive corp being near minimum contract players. that doesn't fix any problems for you

Indeed. Depends on the confidence the coaching staff has in the system and forwards commitment to the system. Neither is ideal but in this high scoring era of the NHL I would choose Hall over Gryz and Forbort. The latter two likely leave after this season anyways.

 

[NDiesel]

What other trade this off-season would you compare to the Hall trade to say we got hosed?

Reilly Smith went for a 3rd...wouldn't
you rather have a pick who at best helps us in 3-5 years, if at all, over two RHD who will at least fight for a spot with Shattenkirk?

 

[Bodit9]

Not loving those forward lines. I think Geekie has more offensive upside to bring. Will be a 45-50 point player. I would go with this:

Marchy - Bergy - JDB
Zacha - Geekie - Pasta
JVR - Coyle - Freddy
Looch - Brown - Lauko

 

[PatriceBergeron]

You couldn't jut trade Forbert and make the money work to field a roster. So you would have had to move BOTH Gryz and Forbert instead of Hall. of course this would have left you with 3-7 on you defensive corp being near minimum contract players. that doesn't fix any problems for you

Ullmark and Forbort and it works.

Their 2023-2024 lineup would be in a much better place with Hall instead of Ullmark.

Again, I’m fine if they don’t keep Hall, but if that’s the decision then I want them to restart the rebuild. I don’t want to half compete just to be the 8th-10th seed the next few seasons.

 

[NDiesel]

Ullmark and Forbort and it works.

Their 2023-2024 lineup would be in a much better place with Hall instead of Ullmark.

Again, I’m fine if they don’t keep Hall, but if that’s the decision then I want them to restart the rebuild. I don’t want to half compete just to be the 8th-10th seed the next few seasons.

I love Hall...but I'm not sure him with a tandem of Swayman/Bussi is much of a difference than not having him, but having tandem of Ullmark/Swayman...either way they're battling for a wild card IMO, and likely grab a spot with that tandem again.

 

[PlayMakers]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this post at all, so apparently we could not keep Hall because of the cap space.

Yet, we were in on Bertuzzi? Makes 0 sense.

There were moves to be made and he panicked.

Again, I'm not arguing that we should have kept Taylor Hall or not (even though I think we should have)

But Sweeney got hosed in the trade.

It's ironic that when Hall was traded here it was because of "Sweenius" not that Hall demanded to come here.

Now that we traded Hall and got hosed it's not his fault.

It's bad GMing and not cashing in on your assets.

Sweeney said they would have had to move another significant piece to sign Bert. Personaly, I think they wanted to move Ullmark but couldn't. Maybe that will change now that teams see they're not going to get goalies like Hellebucyk and Ullmark for free... I think we're in a Mexican stand-off right now, with GM's waiting to see who will flinch.

 

[Bridges31]

Bruins Sign Marc McLaughlin To One-Year Contract | Boston Bruins

North Billerica native has 3 goals in 13 career NHL games

www.nhl.com

 

[SPV]

I’m not really interested in anymore big moves. I figure they’re going to sign Freddy and Swayman, and wait and see on Bergeron and Krejci. If either or both come back, I hope they don’t handcuff us for next season with cap penalties.

I’m not really expecting either to come back, and I think we’ll be fine anyway. We still have some elite wingers, a better defense, and the same goaltenders to start the season

 

[BiteThisBurrows]

Not loving those forward lines. I think Geekie has more offensive upside to bring. Will be a 45-50 point player. I would go with this:

Marchy - Bergy - JDB
Zacha - Geekie - Pasta
JVR - Coyle - Freddy
Looch - Brown - Lauko

Geekie's too slow to play with Pasta and Zacha effectively.

Without Bergeron idk how this comes together but I think Zacha at center (assuming no Krejci) is the best plan. You try JVR on that wing and hope and pray it works. If it doesn't, idk who the winger is. Maybe you have no choice but to go back to Marchand Bergeron Pasternak and then sort the second line with what's left.

Geekie upside is Coyle V2. Geekie downside is Curtis Lazar. I suspect it falls somewhere in between.

 

[bme44]

You couldn't jut trade Forbert and make the money work to field a roster. So you would have had to move BOTH Gryz and Forbert instead of Hall. of course this would have left you with 3-7 on you defensive corp being near minimum contract players. that doesn't fix any problems for you

We can arm chair GM forever. What we do not know, is was there any team that has any interest in either Gryz or Forbert . Hall may have been the only player DS could find a market for that did not further diminish our already very thin prospect pool. I strongly feel if DS can move either Forbert or Gryz for any kind of a return he will. This may have to wait to far closer to the season.

 

[dugg133]

Not loving those forward lines. I think Geekie has more offensive upside to bring. Will be a 45-50 point player. I would go with this:

Marchy - Bergy - JDB
Zacha - Geekie - Pasta
JVR - Coyle - Freddy
Looch - Brown - Lauko

This assumes that no prospects push for a roster spot in camp, which I think is a real possibility for guys like Merkulov, McLaughlin, and Maybe Beecher. Either way, I don't think this is the finished version of the roster, even if you just look at it from a cap space POV we're likely gonna need at least another mil to re-sign both Freddy and Swayman (with Lauko on the NHL roster we have 5.3 mil in space). Maybe it's as simple just dumping Zboril for a 7th or something, but there has to be another move coming at some point.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

Not loving those forward lines. I think Geekie has more offensive upside to bring. Will be a 45-50 point player. I would go with this:

Marchy - Bergy - JDB
Zacha - Geekie - Pasta
JVR - Coyle - Freddy
Looch - Brown - Lauko

coyle contract is a killer

 

[smithformeragent]

I’m not really interested in anymore big moves. I figure they’re going to sign Freddy and Swayman, and wait and see on Bergeron and Krejci. If either or both come back, I hope they don’t handcuff us for next season with cap penalties.

I’m not really expecting either to come back, and I think we’ll be fine anyway. We still have some elite wingers, a better defense, and the same goaltenders to start the season

This is more or less where I’m at.

However, at this point I’d say they have one elite winger in Pastrnak and we’ll see what Marchand looks like a year removed from surgery at age 35, and possibly now playing without his running mate in Bergeron.

Love the guy, mean it. But I don’t feel like you can bank on him completely at this phase in his career.

 

[DarrenBanks56]

This is more or less where I’m at.

However, at this point I’d say they have one elite winger in Pastrnak and we’ll see what Marchand looks like a year removed from surgery at age 35, and possibly now playing without his running mate in Bergeron.

Love the guy, mean it. But I don’t feel like you can bank on him completely at this phase in his career.

marchand was a legit 3rd liner for the last 30 games of the season.
he was better in the playoffs but he has def lost the zip on his shot and the elusiveness.

 

[Smitty93]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with this post at all, so apparently we could not keep Hall because of the cap space.

Yet, we were in on Bertuzzi? Makes 0 sense.

There were moves to be made and he panicked.

Again, I'm not arguing that we should have kept Taylor Hall or not (even though I think we should have)

But Sweeney got hosed in the trade.

It's ironic that when Hall was traded here it was because of "Sweenius" not that Hall demanded to come here.

Now that we traded Hall and got hosed it's not his fault.

It's bad GMing and not cashing in on your assets.

I think it's pretty easy to understand. They had to move a $5-6M contract no matter what to fill the roster. If they were able to agree with Bertuzzi, they would have had to move another $5-6M contract. The Hall cap space got you roughly four roster players that you needed to ice a full roster. A subsequent move would have happened if they could sign Bertuzzi, but they weren't going to make that trade until they knew Bertuzzi would sign at a price/term they wanted.

 

[JOKER 192]

Kicking the can one more season is fine with me. Plenty of cap space next summer to obtain a top 6 center

Other teams with a lot of cap space next off season as well. There will be competition and limited amount of quality FA's.

Leafs 46M
Calgary 37M
Canes 41M
Sharks 34M
Sabers 46M
Detroit 33M
Jets 40M
Kraken 35M
Yotes 49M
Hawks 57M
Ducks 52M

Also is Sway and TFred get the contracts that are expected you can knock another 5 or 6M off of that , leaving you about 24M with 11 players to sign. It's really not as much as it seems. Just over 2M each with JDB likely taking 6-7M .

Bruins are gonna need all of ,

Lysell
Merkulov
Lohrei
Beecher

to be ready for next season on ELC's if they hope to have any money left for FA's.

 

[KnightofBoston]

I keep seeing the name Mitchell and it took me too long to realize they weren’t talking about Mitchell miller

 

[DominicT]

This assumes that no prospects push for a roster spot in camp, which I think is a real possibility for guys like Merkulov, McLaughlin, and Maybe Beecher. Either way, I don't think this is the finished version of the roster, even if you just look at it from a cap space POV we're likely gonna need at least another mil to re-sign both Freddy and Swayman (with Lauko on the NHL roster we have 5.3 mil in space). Maybe it's as simple just dumping Zboril for a 7th or something, but there has to be another move coming at some point.

I'm assuming you are just looking at CapFriendly, noticing they don't have Lauko on it and are subtracting his $787,500? You have to take it a step further: If you are adding Lauko, take out Megna. (I'm going to assume they don't risk waiving Lauko to have Megna in the lineup. So it's really $6.2 million.

When Frederic and Swayman sign and holding a spot for Bergeron, both Lauko and Megna can't be in the lineup or they'll be over the 23-man roster. One has to come out.

 

[Oates2Neely]

Other teams with a lot of cap space next off season as well. There will be competition and limited amount of quality FA's.

Leafs 46M
Calgary 37M
Canes 41M
Sharks 34M
Sabers 46M
Detroit 33M
Jets 40M
Kraken 35M
Yotes 49M
Hawks 57M
Ducks 52M

Also is Sway and TFred get the contracts that are expected you can knock another 5 or 6M off of that , leaving you about 24M with 11 players to sign. It's really not as much as it seems. Just over 2M each with JDB likely taking 6-7M .

Bruins are gonna need all of ,

Lysell
Merkulov
Lohrei
Beecher

to be ready for next season on ELC's if they hope to have any money left for FA's.

I’d say Boston has an advantage over half those teams as far as ability to attract free agents. The Bruins in my opinion are one top young center away from being a contender with their current roster. Have to think they start the 2024-25 season with Lohrei & Lysell on their ELC. Beecher/ Merkulov ready for 3rd & 4th line duty. Sweeney can make this team a top tier group with just a little cap breathing room.

Center depth:
“New top line center”
Zacha
Coyle/ Geekie
Geekie/ Frederic

*Edit: Leafs will have Matthews Marner etc to sign who will significantly eat into their cap space. Sweeney’s big fish are signed long term (Pastrnak McAvoy Lindholm)

 

[DominicT]

Other teams with a lot of cap space next off season as well. There will be competition and limited amount of quality FA's.

Leafs 46M
Calgary 37M
Canes 41M
Sharks 34M
Sabers 46M
Detroit 33M
Jets 40M
Kraken 35M
Yotes 49M
Hawks 57M
Ducks 52M

Also is Sway and TFred get the contracts that are expected you can knock another 5 or 6M off of that , leaving you about 24M with 11 players to sign. It's really not as much as it seems. Just over 2M each with JDB likely taking 6-7M .

Bruins are gonna need all of ,

Lysell
Merkulov
Lohrei
Beecher

to be ready for next season on ELC's if they hope to have any money left for FA's.

You can play that game with every team you listed. Toronto has $46 million to sign 12 players. Matthews and Nylander will take half that themselves if they decide to keep Nylander. And they have 1 goalie for $766,000?

 

[bruins19]

so let's see you make the cap work with keeping Hall

and not trading Grz or Forbort, since I bet that they have been trying

Lots of moving pieces. At the time, I thought moving Hall was a prelude to signing Bertuzzi, but Bert and/or his agent screwed that up by the numbers (no pun intended). I think some of our recent low budget signings (except for Looch) may not survive camp and be waived. Having to wait on decisions by 37 and 46 is not helping.

 

[goldnblack]

Other teams with a lot of cap space next off season as well. There will be competition and limited amount of quality FA's.

Leafs 46M
Calgary 37M
Canes 41M
Sharks 34M
Sabers 46M
Detroit 33M
Jets 40M
Kraken 35M
Yotes 49M
Hawks 57M
Ducks 52M

Also is Sway and TFred get the contracts that are expected you can knock another 5 or 6M off of that , leaving you about 24M with 11 players to sign. It's really not as much as it seems. Just over 2M each with JDB likely taking 6-7M .

Bruins are gonna need all of ,

Lysell
Merkulov
Lohrei
Beecher

to be ready for next season on ELC's if they hope to have any money left for FA's.

I don't think your cap room list is very good though. Actually have the teams resign the guys they're definitely going to resign. You'll cut those numbers in half or less.

In turn for us, Debrusk is the only guy we might resign, and that still depends on where we're at at the deadline this year. They'll be less competition than you might think.

edit: Dom just beat me to it!

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Ullmark and Forbort and it works.

Their 2023-2024 lineup would be in a much better place with Hall instead of Ullmark.

Again, I’m fine if they don’t keep Hall, but if that’s the decision then I want them to restart the rebuild. I don’t want to half compete just to be the 8th-10th seed the next few seasons.

That certainly makes no sense at all.