Mailbag: Boston still a destination?
- Brian
- Jun 13
- 9 min read
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Such a loaded question for such few words!
There are a ton of unknown variables that make this tough to answer but that's the fun part!
Let's start with the draft since it's only a few weeks away.
Who I think Boston should select depends on how the draft board falls, and who's available to them.
To keep it simple, i'll give my top-10 prospect ranking specific to the Boston Bruins.
Michael Misa (C)
Matthew Schaefer (D)
James Hagens (C)
Jake O'Brien (C)
Caleb Desnoyers (C)
Anton Frondell (C)
Roger McQueen (C)
Porter Marton (RW)
Brady Martin (C)
Victor Eklund (LW)
Martone is lower in my ranking because he's a winger and Boston has a more pressing need at center.
That said, not every team selecting ahead of the Bruins shares that need.
In fact, Martone is likely to be selected before Boston even drafts their pick at No. 7.
Same can be said of Misa, Schaefer (who despite not being a center is too good to pass up on), and Hagens.
Frondell, and Desnoyers are also projected by many to be selected before the Bruins.
This means Boston should have their pick between O'Brien, McQueen, Martin, Eklund and others lower ranked.
In this scenario, they should draft O'Brien.
It's worth noting however that any one of O'Brien, McQueen, and Martin could easily be selected before the Bruins pick as well.
In that case, it likely means that one (or more) of Frondell, Desnoyers, Martone, or hell even Hagens slips to as far as No. 7.
And if that were to happen, Boston is walking off that stage with a big smile.
As far as free agency is concerned, there's a lot of questions and options.
Right now as of June 13th, Boston has $26,268,333 cap space remaining for next year.
Do they resign their own RFA's and for how much?
Morgan Geekie, Mason Lohrei, Marat Khusnutdinov, Jakub Lauko, Johnny Beecher need decisions made on them.
Ultimately, after extending certain RFA's, the Bruins should have around $16-$17M to spend on UFA's.
If that's the case they can go a few different directions.
They can spend big on Mitch Marner by signing him to roughly a 7 year, $13M contract, and then sign a 2nd pair right shot defensemen like Nick Perbix to a 2 year, $2.7M contract.
Lineup could look like:
Geekie - Lindholm - Pastrnak
Zacha - Mittelstadt - Marner
Khusnutdinov - Minten - Poitras
Lauko - Kastelic - Duran / Farinacci
H. Lindholm - McAvoy
Zadorov - Perbix
Lohrei - Peeke
Brunet
Swayman
Korpisalo
OR
They could spend moderately in a few different areas that would help address team needs while not overcommitting *too* much on any one player in term or value.
This could include signing Nikolaj Ehlers to a 6 year, $8.1M contract. This would have Ehlers under contract through his prime and into his mid-late 30's. He can skate like the wind and will be capable of putting up 55-65 points on an annual basis assuming he stays healthy.
Keep in mind, while an $8.1M cap hit seems steep, the cap will continue to rise and will go from $95.5M to $113.5M over the next few seasons.
Next, Boston could sign Patrick Kane to a cheap, 1-year deal. Kane trails only Marner in points per game last season among this summer's available UFA right wings.
The three time Stanley Cup Champion posted 59PTS in 72GP for the Detroit Red Wings, and if healthy for a full season could be a much cheaper, non-committal option in producing around 60PTS for the Bruins than a RW option like Brock Boeser who is expected to sign for 6 years, $8.5M.
Lastly, the Bruins could then sign right shot defensemen Dante Fabbro, 27, to a 4 year, $4.5M contract. Fabbro is a strong skater, puck mover, is coming off a career year with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and would be an affordable acquisition to be part of Boston's present and future.
These additions could make the lineup look like:
Geekie - Lindholm - Pastrnak
Ehlers - Zacha - Kane
Minten - Mittelstadt - Poitras
Khusnutdinov - Kastelic - Lauko
H. Lindholm - McAvoy
Zadorov - Fabbro
Lohrei - Peeke
Brunet
Swayman
Korpisalo
Of these options, i'd probably prefer the 2nd where there's a bit more balance and less financial and term commitment to any one player.
Of course there's the possibility of trades, and offer sheets but those are tougher to predict and less to do with UFA projections - though it could affect that business.
Thanks for the question, Mike!
So, Boston trades G Jeremy Swayman ($8.25M), and RW Fabian Lysell ($863K) to the Buffalo Sabres for Buffalo's 2025 1st round pick (No. 9 overall), G Ukko-Pekka Luukonen ($4.75M), and C Ryan McLeod (RFA)?
Heavily favors the Bruins in my opinion.
Swayman has plenty of talent but is still a bit unproven, and would probably struggle to recapture much personal success playing in a historically defensively deficient Sabres organization.
UPL (26 years old and 6'5") doesn't have the best goaltending numbers in Buffalo, but neither did Linus Ullmark until he came to Boston. So if the Bruins get back to a strong defensive structure he could improve with them.
Lysell may or may not end up becoming an NHL player.
McLeod on the other hand already is, and had 20G, 33A, 53PTS in 79GP last year.
AND the Bruins would get No. 9 overall?
That would give them two top-10 picks this year. They could hypothetically draft any two of Jake O'Brien, Caleb Desnoyers, Brady Martin, and or Roger McQueen depending on how the board falls.
The Bruins would probably do this deal in a heartbeat, but the Sabres likely wouldn't wanting anything to do with it.
Happy Friday, Bruintherhood!
The Bruins interviewed 74 of 90 prospects during the week long NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, NY.
While the hyperlinked article above specifically mentions Boston speaking to James Hagens, and Victor Eklund, it's safe to assume they interviewed every top prospect, and likely every prospect projected to be selected in the first six-plus rounds or so.
That said, the only confirmed prospect that Boston took out to dinner so far to my knowledge, was Brady Martin. Though it's worth noting that teams also wait to take prospects out to dinner until draft week.
Appreciate the detailed question, Frank. Clearly put a lot of thought into this!
Yes on Necas.
TOR 2026 1st round pick is likely to end up being between 22nd-32nd overall, and more importantly it's not Boston's own draft pick which they would need in any offer sheet scenario.
BOS 4th round pick you would move in a second for Necas.
Poitras would be tough to part with, but Necas is 26, an elite skater, is coming off of a career year scoring 27G, 56A, 83PTS in 79GP, and is more than likely a better NHL player than Poitras will ever be. It's painful, but you have to give to get.
Georgii Merkulov is 24, and only has 1PT in 10GP at the NHL level despite being a consistent scorer in the minors. You move on from him rather easily here.
The only catch here with Necas is that he only has one year remaining on his contract before he becomes a UFA, so he would have to come with an extension in place or else it's not worth it for Boston if he decides to leave after one year.
No on Kreider.
This move is no longer a possibility given the fact that he has been traded (after the submission of this question) to the Anaheim Ducks.
I wouldn't sign Olofsson at $5M AAV - too high.
Olofsson is projected to sign for 3 years, $3.4M according to AFP Analytics.
He's 29 and has never reached 50PTS in a given season - although he would have in 2019-2020, and 2021-2022 had he played more games.
Still, would rather Boston spend that type of money elsewhere.
Same with Adam Gaudette.
Gaudette is 28 and has a career 96PTS in 301GP.
He simply hasn't earned the $4M price tag in my opinion. He's projected to sign for 1 year, $1M.
As for Boston's RFA's mentioned.
Geekie at 6 years, $5.5 would be great by me.
Would like to see Lohrei at 2 years, $2.5M-$3M rather than $3.5M.
Lauko they can get for a bit cheaper than $1.8M in my opinion.
Would like to see him around $1.5M at most.
Oh boy, I better be careful here answering a question about Marchand from marchandfan63!
Yes, absolutely.
Boston is still a destination, and an ideal market in the hockey world.
It's the greatest sports city in America, and an original-six team with a storied history and passionate fan base.
The Bruins still have players on their roster that others around the league would love to come play with like David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy.
And on top of all of that, money talks.
The way the Bruins traded away Marchand was nothing personal, it was business.
Players recognize the business side of the game.
Marchand wasn't traded out of the blue, or for no good reason.
He was a pending UFA, and contract negotiations were at a stalemate.
It takes two to tango.
Sure, it's easy right now while Marchand's having a strong playoff run as a 3rd liner on a stacked team in Florida to argue that he's worth $7M-$8M AAV.
But let's all please remember that Marchand's 37 years old, and that there are still certain red flags about signing him for any team considering this summer.
Marchand has had FIVE SURGERIES over the last three years.
Two hip surgeries in the spring of 2022
Elbow, groin, and abdominal surgeries in the summer of 2024
In addition to his body breaking down, Marchand's production has also dipped a bit over his last three seasons from 2022-2023 to 2024-2025 scoring 181PTS in 216GP (with the Bruins).
That's a scoring pace of .83PTS/GM.
Still highly productive, but a noticeable drop off from his previous six seasons from 2016-2017 to 2021-2022 where he totaled 506PTS in 420GP.
Which was a scoring pace of 1.2PTS/GM.
Look, we all love Marchand.
But don't confuse his current playoff run in Florida with the risks of Marchand as an asset going forward and into his 40's ...
There's also the irresponsible risk of not trading an expiring asset.
The Bruins knew they weren't a playoff team.
They knew that they weren't going to be able to reach agreement on a contract extension with Marchand before the end of the season.
So, why would they let him walk for nothing in the summer?
Because he was a great Bruin?
How does that benefit the team going forward?
It doesn't.
As for how the Bruins treated Marchand?
The Florida Panthers were the only team Marchand was willing to be traded to.
In that respect, Boston did him a favor sending him to the Panthers.
Because of that, Marchand is now living in the sunshine state, and only two wins away from winning his 2nd career Stanley Cup.
Poor guy.
As far as trading up in the draft from No. 7 to No. 4, it's possible.
UTA has a strong prospect pool and are playing with house money after moving up from No. 14 to No. 4 overall.
But if i'm Boston, i'm not sure I would give up assets to move up three spots in a draft class where there's zero consensus, and no guarantee that prospects projected in the No. 4 overall range will become better NHL players than the prospects in the No. 7 range.
In fact, there's such little consensus that all of these prospects range and overlap depending on which prospect ranking you read.
If Boston can trade No. 7 for No. 1 or No. 2 (virtually impossible chances) or for an NHL 1C in their mid 20's then maybe i'd consider that.
Just not sure it's worth moving from No. 7 to No. 4.
Appreciate the question, Michael!
Since this question was asked, Don Sweeney has officially confirmed that Chris Kelly, and Jay Leach will remain on staff.
Kelly will likely be revoked of his power play coaching duties and focus on other elements of the game.
Sweeney, and Sturm will work to hire a 3rd assistant coach - likely with power play background according to Sturm.
The vacancy remains from when Joe Sacco left his post as assistant coach to replace Jim Montgomery as (interim) head coach.
Tough to predict who the final assistant coach will be, but Marc Savard is a former Bruin and teammate of Sturm.
Savard was a power play specialist as a player, and coached the Toronto Maple Leafs power play last season. Not sure if he's even on the market, but there's a name.
Good question from my favorite unofficial GM in town.
I'm not sure anyone's stock went down much in the wake of combine week - at least among top prospects.
If anything, certain prospects just keep making a better case for themselves.
Anton Frondell, Caleb Desnoyers, Brady Martin, all have been reported to interview well and that they impressed NHL executives with their personalities, charm and wit.
Martin, in particular, is a name to watch as team's could be high on potentially acquiring a future Sam Bennett type player to their organization.
But to me, the biggest wild card remains Roger McQueen.
If his prospect ranking was based solely on size, and skill, he would likely be a top three draft selection.
His health has been a major detractor as he's had to recover from a small fracture in his back. That said, he was able to return to game action by the end of last season, tested really well at the combine, and is adamant that he is 100 percent healthy.
So teams may feel better about that.
Though while they may believe McQueen is healthy, are they worried about the frequency and higher probability of recurring issues?
His stock probably went up a bit, but ultimately teams in the top ten may play it safe and draft elsewhere, and someone drafting in the middle of the 1st round may end up with the steal of the draft class.
Only time will tell.
Thank you all very much for participating and reading along.
Have a great weekend, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!
Until next time.
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