The Boston Bruins are in the midst of a four-game road trip through the Western Conference. The roster below is what the Bruins will be carrying on the trip.
Derek Forbort has been on long-term injured reserve since December 7, 2023 and has been eligible to return since the calendar flipped to 2024. But just how close is Forbort, who resumed skating last week? According to Jim Montgomery on New Year’s Eve: “He’s still a way’s away. He’s not day-to-day, he’s a week anyways.”
https://twitter.com/i/bookmarks?post_id=1741565798982864921
One thing we do know is that it is very rare that a player is activated during an extended road trip. The logistics of flying players back and forth is just not convenient. And let’s be honest, the longer they take to make sure Forbort is a 100 percent, the better. We don’t need another aggravation of what it is that is bothering him.
And it gives the Bruins more time to get the cap straight. And there are a few different ways to do that.
As you know, the upper cap limit is $83,500,000. However, because Milan Lucic is in the player’s assistance program and on LTIR, things change. When the Bruins placed Lucic on LTIR on October 27, 2023, their cap hit was $83,428,503. With the addition of Lucic’s $1,000,000 cap hit on LTIR ($918,503 pro-rated), that means the Bruins new upper limit is $84,347,006.
The roster above carries cap hits totaling $84,972,722 so that means the Bruins would need to clear $675,716 to get to their new upper limit. They would have to clear $1,554,219 to get out of LTIR and start banking cap space. But that’s a story for another day. We’ll stick to activating Forbort for now.
How do they do it?
Well, if they are willing to carry a 22-man roster (they did earlier in the season), it’s as simple as sending Jesper Boqvist and Parker Wotherspoon to Providence since they don’t require waivers. That would bring their cap hit down to $84,149,385. They would still be using LTIR but below their new upper limit. And they still wouldn’t be banking cap space. The problem is that every day Boqvist and Wotherspoon remain on the roster, their accumulated cap hit goes up thus shrinking the breathing room.
Assuming those are the moves the Bruins make, they will have 7 defencemen on the roster: Forbort, Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Matt Grzelcyk, Kevin Shattenkirk and Mason Lohrei.
Who sits?
I’m sure most of you would agree that it’s better off to have Lohrei playing big minutes and in all situations down in Providence rather than sitting on the ninth floor. I’m sure some of you, maybe even many of you would suggest Grzelcyk sits. I few of you might suggest rotating the 7 defenders in and out.
But if they did send Lohrei down along with Boqvist and kept Wotherspoon as the seventh defenceman they could still activate Forbort and be just $650,000 from getting out of LTIR.
Decision day is just around the corner and we may not like it.
Dom - Hockey 