State of the Boston Bruins Roster after the NHL Free Agent Frenzy

State of the Boston Bruins Roster after the NHL Free Agent Frenzy

the Bruins added some key pieces in free agency but they also lost some key players as well let’s talk about where the Bruins stand here now that the frenzy is over you’re locked on Bruins your daily podcast on the Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up Bruins fans and welcome welcome back to the locked on Boston Bruins podcast I’m your host Ian McLaren and this is a Daily Show where we discuss all things spoked to be today is Friday July 5th and I want to thank you so much for making lock on Bruins part of your daily routine free and available on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day and today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL $20 off your first purchase terms do apply before we get into it today a quick reminder you can find the podcast on social media at locked NHL Bruins you can find me my dad jokes hockey thoughts ATC McLaren a lifelong Bruins fan I’ve been covering this team for various outlets for almost 20 years now worked for five years as a hockey news editor at the score and have been doing this podcast since 2019 a lot of changes over that time and this offseason is no different some new faces some players that we’ve grown to know and love have moved on where exactly do the Bruins stand at the end of the initial free agent frenzy and as we begin kind of the dog days of summer here with um things really slowing down we’ll start up front where the Bruins added uh alas lindol as well as uh Mark Castell via trade with the Ottawa Senators uh the Corpus Salo allmark deal that allowed them to get a first round pick as well um they also signed Max Jones as a depth option those are probably the main guys up front that will compete well obviously lindol has a spot on the opening night roster barring injury but those are the max Jones probably the other guy that they signed who has a realistic chance at uh cracking the roster Radley tufty perhaps in there as well as I discussed yesterday with Thomas Dr of the athletic and sports net the Bruins also lost some key Wingers and while it was important for them to shore up the center position and they got a prototypical Bruins Center in lindol a guy who can excellently play both ends of the ice you heard drant say he’s still an elite defensive forward not quite the offensive finisher that he has been in the past uh unlikely to reach the 40 goal Mark once again or average a point per game but 60 points 70 maybe is very realistic they still lost Danton Heinen and more notably Jake debrusk on the wings and they were already kind of Winger deficient here in the postseason you already had Danton Heinen playing in the top six you had Morgan geeki in the top six at times Jake debrus was a staple in the top six over the past couple of years after moving up and down the lineup under Bruce Cassidy finally finding his footing alongside Brad Marshon and T berson and then on top of that developing into a very good defensive forward who killed penalties and was one of their speediest guys on the for check as well that’s a that’s a big loss for the Boston Bruins and how are they going to compensate for those losses on the wing not to mention jper bfist uh who I did not mention yesterday in terms of guys who have moved on he signed a deal with the Florida Panthers right now you can pretty much pencil in a line of pavl zaka lindol and David poock up front as your Top Line other than that it gets a bit murky and there are some questions as to who slots in where Brad Marshon of course your second line left Winger uh you could pair him with Charlie Coyle maybe Morgan geeki plays on the right side of that line or you have Matt ptra on the third line playing with Trent Frederick on the left side and perhaps Fabian lysel is able to earn a shot we’ll talk more next week about the young guys who have opportunities to step up here uh those kind of two lines somewhat interchangeable and that’s really depending on ptra continuing his upward trajectory he was very promising last year as a rookie before getting injured you want him to come back uh Stronger better and ready to take on pretty big minutes for the Boston Bruins and it also depends on Fabian lysel being able to claim a spot as a Winger for the Boston Bruins who can play night in and Night Out contribute offensively most importantly but also play responsibly enough without the puck that he’s not hurting the team and that was a question uh from Providence head coach Ryan muga last season and by all accounts he responded to that call admirably and did indeed step up his game uh without the puck on the fourth line you have guys like John beer and Justin brazzo who emerged last season as Bonafide contributors for the Boston Bruins in depth roles and then you have Mark Castell who has acquired in that Ottawa trade and Max Jones competing as kind of the 13th forwards Justin brazzo maybe in that mix as well maybe Georgie merkulov steps up and grabs a spot but in my mind you’re still kind of thin on the right side especially you have David pook allor Elite one of the Best Wingers in the NHL but then you’re banking on maybe top six contrib ions for Morgan geki a breakout from Fabian lysel Justin brazzo to continue to show that he is um an NH Geller a regular NH Geller which he had not been able to do prior to last season the left side looking pretty good zaka of course a center but he’s gonna be shifted to the wing Marshon Frederick maybe Frederick jumps up into the top six and is kind of called upon to be more of what Jake debrusk offered cut toning down the physicality some of the recklessness which he has he’s very defensively responsible he’s he has grown in that area of his game maybe it’s time for him to jump up into the top six and step up his game as well um and then you have beeer Castell Jones there battling but there’s still yeah some depth needed on the right side I believe I’ve been mentioning the possibility of at the very least a PTO for Philip ziden who had 13 goals 23 points for San Jose last season minus 44 for those of you who care about that but obviously they were a very bad team the worst in the NHL last season pair him with zaka and past maybe you have something there maybe can redeem uh that what was he ninth overall pick back in uh sixth overall pick back in 2018 he’s still only 24 still something there I believe uh you could mind something there and bring him in with his fellow Czech uh cians uh there’s also Daniel sprong who for some reason remains unsigned he’s got 43 points 18 goals in 76 games last season um he’s a guy who if the Bruins could find the money would be a great addition um he’s not gonna break the bank uh similar to Danton Heinen in that kind of bouncing around making a bit more money than him more offensively minded but only 12 minutes of average X time last year and he had 18 goals that’s a guy that you should be looking at for some added pop uh you could also potentially look at a guy like KY Yamoto also a first round pick uh he was in 2017 22nd overall you did already sign Jones and tufty who were first round picks in 2016 maybe see if you can get something out of Yamamoto who uh had eight goals eight assists 16 points and 59 games for the Seattle Kraken last season but did hit 20 goals and 41 points two three seasons ago as a member of the Edmonton Oilers so that’s where we stand up front they got that Center depth enough that they can move Zach into the wing uh but that is telling in that they still need help on the wing right side maybe left side that’s something that needs to be addressed whether it be throughout the rest of the summer or prior to the trade deadline next season what about on the blue line we’ll discuss that here as the podcast continues passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your 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out locked on sports today all the latest news analysis and opinions from across the locked on Universe free on YouTube and the Amazon Fire TV app all right we discussed the forwards the Bruins Shoring up the center position with lindol adding some depth in Max Jones but also losing some key players in Danton Heinen J debrusk uh yesper bfist James Van rdik also gone I forgot to mention him although he has yet to sign elsewhere perhaps there is a Bruins uh twoo ow to her in the works on the cheap but wouldn’t necessarily address them adding that speed element on defense of course the big addition big being the operative word was uh Nikita zadorov and he’s a guy that is gonna be an instant fan favorite uh according to Thomas Dr Who we talked to yesterday dant’s calling him one of his favorite players to watch in the NHL period uh he’s big he is super fun to watch and he can chip in offensively defense is first being physical being hard to play against but he also likes to skate and score sometimes um and it’s always fun to watch him uh yeah just take the puck and try to do something fun he said one of the reasons he came to Boston is because of Jim Montgomery he spent a couple weeks skating with him when he was coaching at the University in Denver when uh zorov was a member of the Avalanche knows him personally a little bit and has heard very good things and um I think he’s gonna fit in very well now the Bruins on the blue line there’s some up and down that’s possible there as well you could start with U Mason lorai skating with Charlie McAvoy Nikita zadorov skating maybe on the third pair with Andrew Peak keeping that hampus lindhome Brandon Carlo connection together or you could have zadorov skating with uh McAvoy move lindol down with Peak Lori with Carlo or move lorai down with Peak and again have zadorov on the top pairing with Parker Witherspoon as the uh extra defenseman now um for my money the Bruins yeah pretty well set on defense there is still some depth worries if you remember in the playoffs they had like eight nine healthy defenseman uh with Matt Grizzly Kevin shaton kerk Derek forbort in the mix as well forbort signing with the Canucks shaten Kirk is a free and still grizzli is a Pittsburgh Penguin uh but this top six if healthy that should be a pretty versatile and uh formidable unit that I’m pretty excited about and while there’s still questions up front for me the defense you add zadorov um you know exactly what you’re going to get and the Bruins have a pretty so solid top six there in my opinion do they need to address the depth yes Parker Witherspoon is your um seventh defenseman at the moment and then after that uh you’re looking to the farm to call someone up and uh pretty thin there in terms of depth uh you know you’re more established guys I guess Ian Mitchell would be the first man up they did sign Jordan osterly to a two-year two-way contract that pays him uh $775,000 he played 22 games for the Flames last season with two assists he’s got 3 71 games of NHL experience 86 points in that time so he would be a candidate to be recalled as well as Ian Mitchell those are probably your two more established guys on the back end uh on the farm after that you’re looking at Billy Sweezy was re was signed to a $775,000 contract uh he is a 28-year-old who has appeared in uh only nine NHL games two seasons ago with the Columbus Blue Jackets so probably not a guy that you’re looking to rely on a guy that brings uh a lot of physicality and some literal punch to his game as well so again the Bruins they still have a couple rfas to deal with on the blue line as well in Michael Callahan Alec regula uh and Mark McGloin up front probably need to add a bit more depth at some point on the blue line but their top six as it stands including or with Parker Witherspoon added to that I think is um is is pretty good and zadorov likely to see plenty of time playing alongside McAvoy who he has always respected as an opponent opponent zeror said he’s watched makoy a lot one of his favorite dmen in the league for sure the way he plays he’s got some grit open Ice hits that fits well with his style as well he played unbelievably against tono zadorov said in the playoffs definitely fun to watch and in Florida as well uh he wants to get up there on the top pair and compliment makoy help him to be good maybe he can create something a little bit more offensively as well because he can trust zadorov to be behind him and help as he can be more aggressive uh it’s important in this league to to kill plays quickly and then don’t let the team have much time in the dzone neutral zone close things quick I think zadorov could be a great compliment to makoy now again you look at what Dr was saying yesterday he’s not necessarily he’s being paid as a two three defenseman but he’s probably more of a four five so do you want mavo paired with him or do you put lorai up with makoy lorai could be a top four defenseman at some point a lot more offensive upside as well but then you’d be asking makoy to do a lot more defensively maybe you want to free him up like zadorov is willing to do to add some more if we want nor uh makoy to win the Norris he’s going to have to raise his point totals maybe pairing him with zadorov is the way to go that would leave you with lorai Peak on your third pairing could be some question marks there uh unless you put lorai with Carlo and have lindol Bounce Down uh I know a lot of people have an appetite to move lindholm’s contract still uh quite a few years left on that he signed through 29 30 at 6.5 million um so that’s six more seasons uh it’s going to be hard to move even if you wanted to which I don’t think the Bruins do I think you saw him get better as the season went on last year and uh he should be much more comfortable uh to start this season I believe so that’s the situation on defense what about inette well we talked about it earlier this week Jeremy Swan we need to get you signed ASAP we’ll discuss that here as the podcast continues all right we’ve established the Bruins could use some help up front pretty well set on defense in net well there’s the huge elephant in the room which is Jeremy Swan remaining a restricted free agent with no contract for the upcoming season or Beyond right now you have Unis Corpus Alo signed at $3 million per season for the next four years with San you know I have no doubts that he will sign at some point but let’s just get it done I mean what is the hold up at this point the Bruins have around 8.6 million in available cap space uh perhaps they’re wanting to get that closer to seven or below I’m sure Swan’s hoping for 7.5 and above uh the term shouldn’t be a problem just get him signed to a Max contract termwise and hopefully they can establish a firm valuation uh I believe it was fluto shinzawa who wrote an article this morning uh talking about how Jeremy Swan could be one of the best goalies in the NHL uh but he’s never had a full season as a number one goalie and perhaps that’s the hesitation in terms of um what the valuation should be at there’s perhaps some variance in Swan’s perceived value uh as his ceiling is pretty high but you only have what you have to work with um Thatcher Demco is playing on a $5 million contract at the moment and getting amazing value for the Vancouver Canucks uh Swan’s aav on a four-year contract projected by evolving hockey is 6.25 three million uh uh an eight-year contract projected by an anonymous agent uh coming in at 7.5 million which is just a shade under what UC Saros just signed on an eight-year contract on July 1 of course you have Andre vasileski making 9.5 million and Dom Lucian of the athletic project an $ 11 million contract for Jeremy Swan on an eight-year deal which the Bruins at the moment cannot afford um so there’s a lot of variance here in terms of what the projection should be uh and what the forecast on his next deal should be um according to Dom Lan’s model he’s expected to say have 106.4 goals above expected over an 8-year deal uh which is better than what Connor heluk has done in the six years following his age 24 season so thean is expecting Swan to be one of the best goalies in the world over the next eight years um he’s one of the Bruin’s three foundational players along with David poo and Charlie McAvoy the Bruins trading lenus Almar signals that they believe in Swan but they need to compensate him in a way that shows that they do trust him there’s no reason to play hard ball at this point there’s no reason to uh come in and say yeah we believe in you but let’s Bridge or let’s extend the term but low or the valuation um it just doesn’t make sense uh committing to eight years is a bit scary and it could be a gamble but swan has passed every checkpoint with high marks including and especially in this uh last playoff run where he was essentially the main reason the Bruins got as far as they did um you’d want to get closer to the evolving hockey projection which is 6.25 three that would Place him above Jordan Bennington Jacob markstrom and just below John Gibson um probably should be paid higher than most of those guys uh maybe you look at Andre vasileski as comparable but I mean he’s allor and has two cups to his name so at any the Bruins need to get San signed and hopefully quickly do not play hard ball they’ve both expressed neither party wants to go to arbitration um that could get very messy and send a devastating message to San and you know could tempt him to sign an offer sheet which it would be a terrible scenario for the Boston Bruins you cannot go into next season having lost or having traded lenus alar and having lost Jeremy Swan because you did not want to Pony up and pay him what he deserves uh just can’t happen you can’t go into next season with Unis coras Salo and Brandon busy they would not be a playoff team with that goal tending tandom and they’re going to experience a bit of a drop off likely with Swan carrying a heavier load and Corpus Salo if unless you can find top form you’re not going to have that Elite goal tending night in and night out if SW is carrying a heavier load and if Corpus Salo is what what he was last season um you can get away with that in the playoffs just sticking with one guy but you want Swan arriving to that point uh you know not having played 60 regular season games or 65 if the case be anyways sign him sign him now pay him pay the man don’t mess around Don just get it done so the Bruins need to sign San if they have some leftover money yeah it’d be great to pursue Daniel sprong or maybe uh a ptto for zadina and Yamamoto to have a bit of flexibility to add some scoring before the season starts uh on defense everything looks pretty good with their top six I don’t expect any changes there um and that’s it a full recap of where the Bruins are post free agent frenzy and the trade with the Senators uh that brings us up to speed next week we’ll focus on the youngsters take a look back at development Camp see who has a chance at making an impact on the big roster next season and just bring you all the latest with respect to the Boston Bruins because we are locked on Boston Bruins part of the locked on podcast Network your favorite team every single day please have a fun safe happy weekend take care of yourselves take care of each other and we’ll be back to uh talk more Boston Bruins on Monday here on lock on Boston Bruins

The Boston Bruins added two key players in Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov during the NHL Free Agency signing period after trading for Joonas Korpisalo and Mark Kastelic the week before. Max Jones and Riley Tufte are also on board, as well as some AHL depth signings.

BUT, gone is Linus Ullmark, Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Jesper Boqvist, while Kevin Shattenkirk and James van Riemsdyk remain unsigned.

So, what’s the actual state of the Bruins roster on July 5? The defense looks nice, but help is still needed on the wings (particularly scoring wingers), and Jeremy Swayman needs to be signed asap.

Locked on Bruins host Ian McLaren discusses each position, and suggests a couple guys to look at for RW scoring help.

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