Boston Bruins 24-25 Roster/Cap thread XIII

[GordonHowe]

Which players could the Bruins trade as part of a mid-season retool?

If the Bruins do opt for a mid-season retool this year, Boston could have several appealing trade chip in place.

www.boston.com

3 bad contracts the Boston Bruins need to shed at the trade deadline

Boston Bruins Don Sweeney needs to begin a retool and if he does, he should look to try and move some bad contracts at the trade deadline.

causewaycrowd.com

 

[KillerMillerTime]

3 bad contracts the Boston Bruins need to shed at the trade deadline

Boston Bruins Don Sweeney needs to begin a retool and if he does, he should look to try and move some bad contracts at the trade deadline.

causewaycrowd.com

Trade Zacha with how Coyle & Lindholm have played? Sorry but how about you tell us what is coming back for Zacha first. Makes Zacha sound like a cap dump..

 

[yazmybaby]

With respect to the Bruins doing a rebuild or retool, I would point to Washington as a worthwhile case study of alternatives. The Caps looked to be heading in the direction of Pittsburgh, winding down an aging core where a key player or 2 were drifting away every year and reaching the point where they were a bubble playoff team at best. It looked like their window was about to close. Instead they have turned things around big time and I don't think that's a mirage. The Caps made numerous additions and they have all worked well or great. It started with Strome and continued with Dubois (who wanted that guy 6 months ago?), Chychrun, etc. They added 5 or 6 players who have replenished a moribund roster.

I don't know if this is what the Bruins should attempt but it is something to consider before fully embracing the "trade everybody" and "blow it up" direction. Making a retool (vs rebuild) work 100% comes down to bringing in the right players. Washington looks to have executed this really well but many other teams have tried and failed (see Nashville). Also relevant is that I am not 100% sure that handing a bunch of additional 1st or 2nd round draft picks to this front office is any guarantee of a return to greatness in 5 years. But standing pat is not the right choice so you've got to choose one of these paths.

The Caps goalies are making a combined 1.8 million per year.
They lucked out with Lindgren playing so well last year and this year.
They had some nice additions like you mentioned that have played well this year and have made some nice trades.
We are close to being in " Cap Hell" until we can offload bad contracts like Coyle and Zacha. I would even move Korpi it the price was right and call up Dipietro or Bussi and ride with them for the rest of the year,
Moving these three frees up approx. 13 million in space to invest in other players.
Potsy looks like he is here to stay, would love Merk and Lysell to get the call up and play them for at least 10 games if Coyle and Zacha are traded.
Once you have cap space you have so much flexibility on your roster to make deals.

 

[Dr Hook]

With the draft being a lottery, Boston should never be a rebuild. The 5-6 year purgatory is terrible for culture, fanbase and interest in the team.

And that is if it goes well.

 

[NDiesel]

With the draft being a lottery, Boston should never be a rebuild. The 5-6 year purgatory is terrible for culture, fanbase and interest in the team.

My buddy is a Sharks fan and he would 100% agree with this. This is a guy who was a diehard, never miss a game type of fan. He lost a lot of interest over the last 4-5 seasons and even with the bright future they still have a long way to go to compete

 

[gvkmedia]

Would Elias Lindholm agree to go back to BC? Could he - plus Lysell and a pick be enough to grab Miller? Would Miller even come to Boston?

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Trade Zacha with how Coyle & Lindholm have played? Sorry but how about you tell us what is coming back for Zacha first. Makes Zacha sound like a cap dump..

Calling Pavel Zacha a bad contract is absolute insanity. It makes no sense He's having a bit of a down year, but still on a 45 point pace. given the fact he is a good 200 foot players, 4.75 million is a perfectly fine contract for a 45 point forward.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

McAvoy for Dobson+Barzal is interesting! We'd have to add but I like the base

I want nothing to do with Barzal. I'm convince that had Boston drafted him in 2015 he'd have been run out of town on a rail long before now.

As opposed to Aho who was the big miss in 2015

 

[JCRO]

Calling Pavel Zacha a bad contract is absolute insanity. It makes no sense He's having a bit of a down year, but still on a 45 point pace. given the fact he is a good 200 foot players, 4.75 million is a perfectly fine contract for a 45 point forward.

Yeah he’s not untouchable but definitely I’m moving Coyle before him.

He fits quite well with Pasta too.

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Yeah he’s not untouchable but definitely I’m moving Coyle before him.

He fits quite well with Pasta too.

I don't think he would get moved, but maybe in a really hockey trade they include him. It is just absurd to refer to him as a bad contract or someone they need to get rid of

 

[PlayMakers]

Such a minimal thing but:

Im curious to see how Max Jones does this time around. Guy was brought in to compete for the fourth line but got injured during camp and had to watch the fourth line at the time started the season off ablaze. Then when he was healthy to play, he found himself slotted in well over his head (and in penalty trouble).

Some healthy competition for a guy like Beecher whose been kind of meh since starting the season pretty hot.

When they signed Max Jones I was excited because I thought he'd be a great 4th liner with his speed and forechecking game, but my recollection is that they tried to force him into a 3rd line role at the start of the season. Maybe I'm misremembering but I thought that was part of the problem.

 

[Greek_physique]

Not sure if it's been discussed here or not, but if we are serious about a re-tool...would it not make sense to trade Carlo (if we can get a Miller or another forward) and then try to get Nemec from the Devils?

 

[PB37]

Yeah, Lightning identifying him on a losing Chicago team and capitalizing. What did they end up paying for him?

They traded for him back in 2022, not this past offseason. Two first round picks, two younger prospect type players went to Chicago.

 

[DiggityDog]

I have to say; pretty floored anyone would consider Zacha’s deal to be a bad one.

I’m on the opposite end of the “article” I consider him one of the team’s better contracts.

 

[PlayMakers]

I don't think that's necessarily true, because if the GM/scouting is good enough you can identify guys with upside for cheap. Geekie and Brazeau themselves are great examples of this, both cost very little cap space/assets to obtain and when we think of who they were coming to replace we likely saved money there.

IMO you target similarly aged guys in UFA to what Geekie was when we signed him and you at least have a chance to get a guy who can not only fill these roles but also hopefully improve. Obviously easier said than done and there are risks with it.

But I do agree with what you're saying overall, in replacing these guys you have to look at the price they cost and if its feasible to try and replace that production through other avenues before you sell them off.

I'm a big Braz fan and I think he'll be a bargain even on his next contract so he's one I heavily lean towards keeping of that group

Yeah, that could be. But we could also see a lot less Geekie types hitting free agency with the cap going up. With a flat cap for the last 4 or 5 years, teams had to make hard choices. Nobody had cap space and what little they had went to their high end players, so they had to let guys go they might have otherwise kept if they had just another $1m in cap space. That's not going to be the case going forward. Now everyone is going to have cap space.

Also, Geekie was signed under a flat cap. I would think that if that same situation comes up when everyone has $10m in cap space, those types of players are going to cost more than $2m.

Even now, agents are putting off negotiations because they want a number for the new cap so they can base their "ask" on a percentage of the cap.

 

[Number8]

They traded for him back in 2022, not this past offseason. Two first round picks, two younger prospect type players went to Chicago.

Hagel is a good player but Tampa paid a haul for him and were laughed at here and on the main boards.

This place would have gone bonkers if we’d given two firsts and two of our rare prospects (unless we could have duped them into Zboril and rights to Senyshyn).

 

[22Brad Park]

With the draft being a lottery, Boston should never be a rebuild. The 5-6 year purgatory is terrible for culture, fanbase and interest in the team.

Be nice though to get a franchise player it's been a while

Hagel is a good player but Tampa paid a haul for him and were laughed at here and on the main boards.

This place would have gone bonkers if we’d given two firsts and two of our rare prospects (unless we could have duped them into Zboril and rights to Senyshyn).

three 1st I thought

Not sure if it's been discussed here or not, but if we are serious about a re-tool...would it not make sense to trade Carlo (if we can get a Miller or another forward) and then try to get Nemec from the Devils?

Sweeney can't get one of them let alone both. Better lower expectations I think

 

[JoeIsAStud]

Be nice though to get a franchise player it's been a while


three 1st I thought

I guess it depends on what a franchise player is? Is it a top 3 in the game guy, then yeah maybe Bourque at his peak. Or does it go back to Bobby Orr?