The Boston Bruins went all-in to win the Stanley Cup in the 2022-23 season, which was absolutely the right decision. Unfortunately for the franchise, it fell short of its goal of winning a championship, and now the bill has come due.
An intense tightening of the salary cap has already forced significant changes to the roster. Those adjustments began on Monday, when Bruins general manager Don Sweeney traded a top-six left winger to Taylor Hall for the Chicago Blackhawks in what was essentially a $6 million wage loss.
When NHL free agency began on Saturday, several players from the Bruins’ stacked 2022-23 roster left for bigger paydays at new teams. Defenders Dmitry Orlov ($7.25 million AAV with Carolina) and Connor Clifton ($3.33 million AAV with Buffalo), along with bottom six forwards Garnet Hathaway ($2.375 million AAV with Philadelphia) were among the first to leave. Sweeney told reporters Saturday night that fourth-row center Tomas Nosek was “unlikely” to return. He also noted that Tyler Bertuzzi is unlikely to re-sign, citing both the term and the AAV among the reasons.
The Bruins entered the day with just $13.6 million in salary cap space, so they went shopping in the bargain bin.
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Morgan Geekie, C: Two-year, $2 million salary cap hit
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Patrick Brown, C: One year, $800,000 salary cap reached
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James van Riemsdyk, LW: One year, $1 million salary cap hit
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Milan Lucic, LW: One year, $1 million salary cap reached
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Kevin Shattenkirk, D: One year, $1.05 million salary cap hit
The Bruins won’t repeat last year’s regular season success in 2023-24, but they will be competitive, there’s no doubt about it. There is no major retooling going on here. This was clarified when, instead of filling the roster with a group of young players, Sweeney signed five veterans in the first two hours of free agency.
“I think I was pretty honest in saying we weren’t going to be the same team,” Sweeney told reporters on Saturday. “We had incredible depth and felt we were a good team, but we fell terribly short of our goals in the playoffs. We know we’re a competitive group and we want to stay a competitive group and with a turned eye. in the future, we have not been too encumbered in terms of contracts, we have decisions to make because we have players who arrive at decision time and we have things to settle with two of our RFAs.
“As we pointed out, we are happy with the competitiveness of our group. We have to stay healthy, and our top guys have to stay healthy to have the success that we would like to have. It’s going to be a dogfight. No matter how you feel about your team today, injuries can play a role in that, and the growth of other teams is going to play a role in that.
The salary cap is not a long-term problem, however. These problems will not become the norm. In fact, they should only last a year.
The Bruins will be in a fantastic position next summer to attack the trade and free agency market. The only contract the Bs signed on Saturday that lasts more than one season is Geekie’s two-year, $4 million contract. As a result, the Bruins can enter the trade or free agency market next offseason armed with about $30.9 million in salary cap. This number could increase if the cap increases from $3 million to $4 million for 2024-25.
Bruins president Cam Neely was asked Tuesday if it’s helpful to know that the cap will most likely go up next year based on projections.
“Yeah, absolutely, and we also don’t want to put ourselves in a position where we won’t take advantage of it next year,” Neely told reporters in Nashville. “So we feel pretty good about where we’re going next year, but it’s just this season right now that we’re trying to rebuild.”
Why exactly is it so important that the ceiling should increase? Take a look at the group of players with expiring contracts entering the 2023-24 campaign. There are some very good players on this roster, and many of them would fill the Bruins’ main needs, like front-six center, front-four defenseman, etc. (Auston Matthews and Sebastian Aho are not listed as it’s hard to imagine them not re-signing with their current teams).
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Mark Scheifele, C.
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Elias Lindholm, C.
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Matt Duchene, C.
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Sam Reinhart, C.
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Joe Pavelski, C/RW
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William Nylander, AR
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Jake Guentzel, AG
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Noah Hanifin, D
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Brandon Montour, D.
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Devon Toews, D.
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Brett Pesce, D
It’s entirely possible that some of these players will be traded before entering free agency and then sign an extension with their new team, as the New York Islanders acquire top-six center Bo Horvat in late January and extend his contract. a week later. With their abundance of cap space entering 2024-25, the Bruins could be a team looking for a similar move next season.
Any of the players listed above would complement the current Bruins core well – David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Linus Ullmark, Jeremy Swayman, etc. – which is already strong enough. That core could one day include two of Boston’s top prospects — Fabian Lysell and Mason Lohrei — who could potentially make their NHL debuts this season.
Bruins fans will have to endure what could be a turbulent and at times frustrating 2023-24 season. Boston’s depth will be much lower than it was last season. The level of talent in the center will be considerably lower if Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retire. The team is unlikely to finish 2nd in goals scored for the second year in a row. The defense and the guards will have to be elite. One or two injuries have the potential to derail the season due to lack of depth.
But any frustration felt this winter should be short-lived. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The Bruins will soon be armed with plenty of salary cap space. Landing blockbuster deals will of course remain difficult, but Boston will at least be in a much better position to make them than they were this summer.