Everyone knew something had to happen to help alleviate the Boston Bruins cap issues. And on NHL Awards Day with a few Bruins in attendance including General Manager Don Sweeney, the first shoe dropped when he dealt Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a couple of right shot defencemen in Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell. Foligno has since signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Hawks.
Shortly after that, the NHL offices fax machine wrung once again with a smaller deal sending restricted free agent Shane Bowers to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for another right shot defenceman and restricted free agent Reilly Walsh.
Plenty of fans are disappointed with the return in the Hall/Foligno deal, but it is the cost of doing business. Given that was the type of return they were going to get under the circumstances, Sweeney didn’t go in blindly. He knows he may just have to fill in the Connor Clifton spot and Walsh is the primary choice there at this point. Given that he only had one right shot defenceman signed in Providence in Ryan Mast – who has zero professional games under his belt, he did about as good as he could do.
And he’s not finished.
Rumors continue to surround the Bruins and what shoe will drop next. One name near the top of the list is Matt Grzelcyk. Forget for a moment that Jim Montgomery scratched him in the playoffs. Even before the offseason began, I wrote here that the Bruins had to make a decision on Grzelcyk. He’s in the final year of a 4-year deal that carries a cap hit of $3,687,500. And there is plenty of interest in Grzelcyk around the league.
The fact is, Grzelcyk is set to earn $4,250,000 this season, a backloaded deal that began with $2,250,000 in actual cash in year one. Is it reasonable to assume his next deal, when he will be 30 years of age begins at that number? Sweeney and Evan Gold are going to have to take everything into consideration including whether the cap relief is more beneficial to them now or whether they are willing to extend him beyond this season or whether the money will be better spent elsewhere.
As I said, there is interest in Grzelcyk around the league but at what cost? Cap space is tight around the league and it’s likely the Bruins don’t want any salary coming back that can’t be put in Providence. One NHL Player Agent told me he’s 99 percent certain he will be dealt before the Entry Draft is over. But again, how many teams are willing to acquire a player whose actual dollars are higher than his cap hit? That in itself negatively impacts value. I’m strictly speaking value here and not dismissing what the agent said outright.
Which brings us to the following question asked by fans and media alike: Why haven’t they bought out Mike Reilly yet? The fact is, they have until 5:00 pm Eastern time on Friday to do so. Full credit to Chris Nosek who suggested this first: It’s possible and quite likely that the Bruins are waiting for the Grzelcyk situation to be settled before they make any move regarding Reilly. They still have to ice a roster and if Grzelcyk is moved you could be looking at Reilly, Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort and Jakub Zboril on the left side.
It could be that Sweeney is waiting until the last possible moment to see if another team is desperate to hit the cap floor. Currently, the Anaheim Ducks are $17.2 million below the cap floor according to CapFriendly with 8 roster spots to fill and are rumored to be shopping John Gibson and his $6.4 million cap hit. There are other teams under similar circumstances, but the window is quickly closing for Sweeney. What once seemed like an inevitable buyout candidate isn’t so obvious anymore.
Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark continues to have his name thrown into the mix. However, the goaltending market is saturated. Not only are the Ducks shopping Gibson, but the Winnipeg Jets are shopping Connor Hellebuyck with his reluctance to sign an extension with the team. That’s not to mention the long list of free agent goaltenders that include the likes of Frederik Andersen, Antti Raanta, Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov, Tristan Jarry, Joonas Korpisalo and many more that not only could you likely get for cheaper, but wouldn’t cost any assets to acquire other than cap space.
Sure, none of them are coming off of a Vezina winning season, but does anyone expect Ullmark to repeat the season he just had?
Now, if the Bruins can come to a reasonable bridge deal with Jeremy Swayman and make the cap work, it may just be the team’s approach: Keep both goaltenders in hopes that they can hold back the opposition in what could be a leaky defence in a transition year. Its not a bad idea but I also don’t believe they can get full value by trading Ullmark with the market they way it is shaping up to be among goaltenders.
What we do know is the Bruins aren’t finished yet. How they finish is anyone’s guess.
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Dom - Hockey 