Bruins Sign Jesper Boqvist

Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney announced today that the team has signed 24-year-old center Jesper Boqvist to a one-year, one-way contract with a cap hit of $775,000. Boqvist will be a restricted free agent when this deal expires next summer and will have arbitration rights.

The left shooting center is a native of Falun, Sweden. He played his junior hockey with Brynas IF in the J20 Nationell, the same league Bruins draft picks Oskar Jellvik and Dans Locmelis skated in. He also played in parts of four professional seasons with Brynas IF in the SHL. In 98 career SHL games he notched 16 goals and 39 assists.

Boqvist was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the second round – 36^th overall – at the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. He appeared in 34 AHL games over three seasons scoring 12 goals and 14 assists. In parts of 5 seasons with the Devils, Boqvist has played in 189 career games scoring 28 goals and 27 assists. Last season he had 10 goals and 11 assists in 70 games.

This is a low risk signing by Sweeney and sets the team up for a lot of internal competition for spots on the roster. I am however, left asking myself this: We were told we could see a few of the prospects make the team this fall, but over who? That said, all the additions Sweeney made can be buried in the AHL with no cap implications except one, Morgan Geekie.  

With a full 23-man roster, this signing leaves the Bruins with $5,416,666 in cap space to sign Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic, who have filed for arbitration. And if Patrice Bergeron comes back? Well, they would need to send a body to Providence to open up a roster spot and that would free up space to give Bergeron an incentive filled contract.

Follow me on Twitter @dominictiano