It appears as though there is going to be a fair bit of roster changes for the Boston Bruins this offseason that will involve trades and having to let players walk to free agency. With the cap crunch and so many key players potentially leaving, the Bruins are particularly focused on one upcoming free agent, Tyler Bertuzzi, and how to sign him.
Elliotte Friedman reported that the Bruins are looking to see what they can do to be able to keep Bertuzzi, and I don’t blame them after his very impressive showing in the playoffs. Bertuzzi isn’t going to come cheap and the old ways of players taking less money to win in Boston seems to be going by the wayside. So how are they going to keep him? This is what we’re going to explore here.
Who Does Boston Let Go?
The Bruins have six forwards, seven defensemen, and one goalie under contract for next season who are viable options in the NHL. With all of those roster spots to fill, the Bruins actually only have $5 million in cap space for 2023-24. $4.5 million is being taken up by carryover bonus overages in which bonuses earned from the players last season put them over the cap.
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At this time, who knows if Patrice Bergeron or David Krejci are going to be back next season. If not, this shifts Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle into the number one and two spots at center and really leaves the bottom-six dry. Depth can be replaced easier than top-six players and filled in for cheaper. If Bertuzzi is going to stick around, it will cost the Bruins between $5-6 million to sign him long-term. To just offset the cost of keeping Bertuzzi alone, it would seemingly cost the team Taylor Hall or Linus Ullmark. Bertuzzi would take over Hall’s spot in the lineup and be under contract for probably four years longer at a very fair deal. In terms of lineup security, this is a good move, plus Bertuzzi is four years younger.
Goalies & Depth
As for Ullmark, he is a Vezina nominee, but his value is at its peak and Jeremy Swayman/Brandon Bussi can be seen as the future. After the seasons Swayman has had, it won’t come very cheap to get him signed for multiple years. At this point a no-brainer the team has to move on from is Mike Reilly. He will be a cap dump and cost them an asset, but his $3 million or part of it has to be off the books. Finally, Matt Grzelcyk is likely the sacrifice on defense as the Bruins can run with Hampus Lindholm, Derek Forbort, and Jakub Zboril on the left side.
I don’t expect Hall, Ullmark, Grzelcyk, and Reilly to be moved, but if Bertuzzi is to stick around, Hall or Ullmark will probably have to be traded on top of certain trade candidates in Grzelcyk and Reilly.
