Bruins Have Gotten Astronomically Worse: What’s the Plan?

After an amazing regular season, nobody expected the Boston Bruins to finish how they did in 2022-23. While all the analytics pointed to their luck running out at some point, everything they did caused somewhat of an implosion of their roster this offseason. They packaged some of their future, brought in a lot of players on expiring contracts, accrued salary cap overages that now impact this season, and have now swapped out a lot of talent for depth players at best. So what’s the plan? Ride it out for a year and come back even stronger or hope that some of the magic can repeat itself with a far worse roster?

Bruins’ Losses This Offseason

The Bruins weren’t able to keep any of the three trade deadline acquisitions from last season as Tyler Bertuzzi signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dmitry Orlov signed with the Carolina Hurricanes, and Garnett Hathaway signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. With the contracts handed out to each of them, the Bruins weren’t able to afford keeping them around, even though they tried. The team traded Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno (signing rights) so that they might be able to sign Bertuzzi for Hall’s role in the top-six, only to see Bertuzzi go to their biggest rival. Who knows if a reunion is in the future as Bertuzzi will be a UFA after next season and the Bruins will have more cap space, but for now, the team downgraded significantly on the wing.

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The deadline additions and Hall weren’t the only players the Bruins lost. They were also forced to move on from Connor Clifton as he signed with the Buffalo Sabres. Once again, this was a case of not being able to afford him after a strong season, despite being pushed out of the lineup later in the season due to so much talent on the back-end. Instead, all these positions were filled with very cheap additions and clear downgrades.

Question Marks Remain for Bruins

While there were significant losses in terms of players signing elsewhere or being traded to clear cap space, there are also the players with question marks beside their names. The futures are unknown for veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, but there’s very little chance that if they do continue playing, it’s for any other team than the Bruins. Both could sign for cheap again, maybe this time without so many performance bonuses to cause the Bruins to have salary cap overages again.

While it would be a major win to have the six-time Selke Trophy winner and another great two-way center and veteran on the team, the Bruins also have to worry about two of their RFAs in Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic. Swayman is the big one here as he is seen as the goalie of the future. After the start to his NHL career, he deserves a bit of a payday, but it might come in the form of a short-term, lower AAV bridge deal. There’s no guarantees as there’s some talk he could even be dealt. It doesn’t make sense cap-wise to have both Swayman and Linus Ullmark on the team. As for Frederic, he’s not signed and he might be asking for more than he’s worth or the Bruins can afford after a 17-goal, 31-point season.

Who Boston Added

Now the players the Bruins have added so far are underwhelming. To replace what they lost, they brought in Milan Lucic, James van Riemsdyk, Morgan Geekie, and Kevin Shattenkirk at a combined $5.05 million AAV. The defense of the Bruins still looks strong despite losing two key players, but the forward depth is very concerning. It is filled with fringe NHLers or young inexperienced players. It’ll force the Bruins to rely on the top-six that isn’t nearly as good as it has been in recent years. All in all, it has been a very tough offseason since the first round shock and it might take a season before the Bruins can recover.