“Offseason Roster Changes Loom for Boston Bruins After Playoff Elimination”

Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney didn’t have any big news for his fans this week during his season-ending review, days after his team was eliminated by the Panthers from Florida in the first round.

Boston has $5 million in salary wiggle room with eight potential unrestricted free agents and two restricted. There will inevitably be roster changes, Sweeney said.

“We tried to put together the best roster possible to break into the playoffs and we failed,” he admitted to reporters. So there is a price to pay. »

We still don’t know if the first two center players, Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, will be back. Bergeron will be 38 this summer. Krejci just turned 37. Both missed playoff games due to injuries and had been struggling to return to action this season.

If they leave, the center position within the first two lines will rest on Pavel Zacha, surprisingly it must be admitted with 57 points this winter, and Charlie Coyle, the third center appointed for a few seasons.

The offense could also be cut by Tyler Bertuzzi, acquired at the trade deadline for a first-round pick in 2024. Bertuzzi, the Bruins’ leading scorer in the playoffs with ten points in seven games, will become an unrestricted free agent. If we want to keep him for the long term, we may have to sacrifice Taylor Hall or even Jake DeBrusk on the exchange market.

The other big player acquired at the trade deadline, for first-round picks in 2023, second-round picks in 2025 and third-round picks in 2024, defender Dmitry Orlov, has almost already said goodbye. He will also be an unrestricted free agent and Boston cannot afford to keep him.

Orlov, 31, had an annual salary of 5.1 million. He will probably receive a raise from his new team. This left-handed defenseman has eight assists in seven playoff games and averaged 23:03 per game, second behind Charlie McAvoy.

“We have (salary) constraints, like the others … there will be changes, admitted Sweeney. We will not have the same team. But we still have a good core that will continue to grow collectively, whether Patrice and David return or not. »

Boston still has two excellent guards, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. THE top 3 defense made up of Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo has nothing to envy to the good teams.

David Pastrnak remains one of the most explosive players in the NHL. He has just experienced, at 26, his best season in his career with 113 points, including 61 goals, he seems to have developed a good chemistry with Zacha and he is under contract for the next eight seasons. DeBrusk and Brad Marchand remain quality wingers.

“I believe in our defensive corps,” Sweeney said. The behavior of our goalkeepers in the playoffs does not explain our elimination (in the first round). But we still have challenges. We will undoubtedly have to integrate young people into our training. »

Unfortunately for the Bruins, clubs at the end of the cycle or at a crossroads have had to empty their bank of prospects and choices to remain competitive in recent years.

Boston has drafted only twice in the first round in the last five vintages, including once in the 30^e rank (John Beecher), and 2017 first-round pick Urho Vaakanainen moved to the Anaheim Ducks in the trade for Lindholm.

The Bruins will not be able to fill their bank of prospects in the coming seasons since they no longer have first- and second-round picks in 2023 and 2024.

Right-winger Fabian Lysell, first-round pick in 2021 (21^e overall), is supposedly the organization’s most promising young player. But he had a disastrous World Junior Championship, to the point of being relegated to the role of 13^e striker for the Swedish team, despite having a good season in the American League. He’s been shut out in 15 of his last 22 games at Providence after returning from Worlds.

Drafted in the second round in 2022, 54^e in total, center Matthew Poitras had 95 points in 63 games in his second season at Guelph, in the Ontario Junior League. But he just turned 19. Let’s see how the Bruins handle his development.

It would make sense to predict a tough season for the Bruins next year, but haven’t we buried them too many times in the past…wrongly?

One less potential buyer in Ottawa

The Remington group, headed by actor Ryan Reynolds, reportedly withdrew from the race to purchase the Ottawa Senators. They were ready to make a billion dollar bid to acquire the team, Postmedia reported recently.