Here’s my State of the Bruins heading into silly season next month.
FORWARD
Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
DeBrusk - Krejci - Bjork
Donato - XXX - Backes
Heinen - Kuraly - Acciari
I don’t thing much work needs to be done with the forward group. I’d bring back Kuraly, let everyone else go. I’d consider a Schaller reunion if he is willing to stay for cheap (ie the $750K he played for this year), but he had a nice year so I assume someone will give him a nice raise. Frederic and JFK can battle it out in camp for the 3C spot. Another option is Donato as 3C. The loser goes to Providence, where they’ll also have Szwarz as insurance. Czarnik is unrestricted, I’d like to bring him back as a center, but he may get more of an opportunity elsewhere and even if he does sign, he’ll be waiver eligible which could cause a bit of a roster log jam. Ryan Fitzgerald is a wing, but had a nice season for Providence (21-16= 37 in 65 games) so he could push for a bottom 9 spot, but it’s hard to see too much room unless they move out a wing or Bjork starts the year in Providence. I’ve long been intrigued by Cehlarik, but he can’t seem to stay healthy. Wonder if he’ll be trade bait.
They’re in good shape here. Nothing drastic needs to happen. They need a little more time to see exactly what they have with some of the kids before making any external moves. Bjork and Donato are still unknown and Heinen is somewhat of a mystery. Did he hit a wall in the 2nd half, or is his first half closer to what he is?
DEFENSE
Chara - McAvoy
Krug - Carlo
Grzelyck - Miller
McQuaid
Obviously the talk here is finding a 2-way LHD that can eat minutes on the 2nd pair a la McDonagh in Tampa. Dangling Krug and futures for an upgrade seems to the be the most realistic scenario, but that is easier said than done. Maybe Carolina and their new nutty owner puts Slavin of Hanifin on the block. There are also rumors of Klefbom or Nurse out of Edmonton. I’m not sure who else is really available, the type of player the Bruins need don’t get traded often. The Bruins do have a ton of LHD’s at varying stages of development in the system, but I don’t think any of the kids are really ready to step into that sort of role. Zboril is probably the closest, but it is probably preferable to let him continue developing in Providence to start the season and then ease him in as an injury replacement and let him work his way up as desired, like they did with Grz. It is hard to tell with some of the kids that come over from European pro leagues, must maybe Vaakanainen is someone who could make a quick transition. McQuaid is (finally!) in the last year of his deal, might as well keep him around as the healthy scratch.
GOAL
Rask
McIntyre
I’m not a Khudobin fan, I’d save the cap space and give McIntyre a look or see if I can save a few bucks with some other journeyman. Khudobin posted a .938 save percentage through his first 9 appearances, then a .901 the rest of the way (22 appearances). He had a .904 in 2016/2017. Maybe it’s cherry picking, but to me the lousy .901 is more of what he is than the 9 game hot streak (which admittedly came right when the team needed it). He’s below replacement level, in my opinion. Roll the dice with Zane.
All in all, I think we are looking at another quiet offseason. They’ll do their due diligence in trying to find a LHD, but they have been looking for that since Sweeney took over, so I’m not sure they get it done.