Don Sweeney expects Bruins to be ‘adding some players’ in July, but a major roadblock stands in the way

July 1, 2018, was an eventful afternoon for Don Sweeney and the Bruins. 

Entering the summer of 2018 with around $11.9 million in cap space, the B’s were active on the free-agent front, signing Chris Wagner, John Moore, Joakim Nordstrom and Jaroslav Halak all on the first day that UFAs could agree to new offers. 

It would have required some major cap gymnastics (including a likely trade of David Krejci), but Boston also found itself as one of the finalists for the services of John Tavares, who eventually signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the Maple Leafs. 

Fast forward a year, and the Bruins find themselves in a similar situation, as far as cap space goes — with Boston currently hovering right around $12 million going into another free-agent feeding frenzy. 

Based on Don Sweeney’s comments on Friday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena, it seems as though Boston isn’t deviating from last year’s mentality when it comes to the offseason — remain aggressive and parse through every avenue available in pursuit of depth. 

“We’ve been in the interview period, so we’ve had a lot of discussions and some planning,” Sweeney said. “Obviously our entire staff has been here the whole week … We’re doing what the other teams are doing. We’re having conversations with representatives, gauging interests and trying to fill the holes that we feel like we need to fill. … As far as July (1st), we’ll be adding some players for sure.”

With that $12 million at his disposal, it seems like a given that Sweeney will make good on that guarantee to add more players into the mix for a club that came up one game short of a Stanley Cup title. 

But that $12 million can be awfully misleading — and perhaps best labeled as fool’s gold if one believes all that capital will be used to retain the likes of Marcus Johansson and bolster the rest of Boston’s winger corps. 

The Bruins might have a lengthy checklist and high expectations for this offseason, but before Boston can really jump into the fray of free agency, it needs to clear some major in-house roadblocks. 



Freeing up some cash would go a long way in helping Sweeney and his staff avoid some major headaches this summer. But even if Boston had, say, $15 million in cap space, the B’s likely do not have the resources to add a top-six up front or an everyday option on the blue line. 

In fact, as the situation currently stands, the Bruins can’t throw too much cash at just about any free agent on the market, at least, not until the club gets some clarity on its three restricted free agents in Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Danton Heinen.

While Sweeney expects the trio to be donning black and gold sweaters for the foreseeable future, more pressing issues rise to the forefront when it comes to RFAs. Namely, when will these three sign or for how much?

“We have to deal with our RFA players,” Sweeney said of Boston’s offseason goals. “We don’t have a timeline for that, but they’ll be playing for Boston at some point and time this year prior to December 1 and that’s the only deadline we face, and we’ve been at it for a while with those guys.”

While conversations have been ongoing with McAvoy, Carlo and Heinen — who are expected to cost around $12 million in AAV (if not more) off of their new contracts — there’s no guarantee that the three will have inked new deals by the time free agency officially begins on Monday.

When Sean Kuraly, an RFA last summer, finally agreed to terms on a new, three-year contract extension worth $1.275 million annually, it was July 3 — two days after Wagner, Halak, Nordstrom and Moore were brought into the fold. 

When David Pastrnak was due for a major pay raise in the summer of 2017, the Bruins and the winger’s representatives were stuck at an impasse all the way until Sept. 14 — with Pastrnak finally signing off on a six-year extension and joining his teammates in the middle of training camp. 

Obviously, Sweeney is hoping that McAvoy, Carlo and Heinen sign long before that — and ideally before the calendar turns to July.

“There’s a reason why we tried to be in front of things,” Sweeney said. “But as I said, there’s no timeline to find a deal, Two sides that have to find it, and it’s been a patient overall plan. But it’s pretty apparent around the league that the RFAs are being patient. There’s been a few. Philadelphia signed (RFA Travis Sanheim) the other day. So, I’m hopeful that our players would see it that way, but I can’t force them to see it that way."

If Boston is unable to get its RFAs signed ahead of July 1, then Boston will be treading on some unsteady ground when it comes to negotiating with UFAs. Sure, the Bruins have $12 million to work with, but with most of that eventually set to be allocated to deals for McAvoy, Carlo and Heinen, Boston is either going to have to go bargain shopping in July or sign a few names with the expectation that most of the summer will be spent shearing off some costly contracts.

As constituted, Boston’s cap situation doesn’t exactly bode well for a UFA like Marcus Johansson, who could command over $5 million out on the market — much to Boston’s chagrin. Even a new deal for Noel Acciari might not be feasible, especially if the fourth liner gets a deal similar to the one Tim Schaller received from the Canucks last July 1 (two years, $1.9 million AAV). 

“There are areas you can try to improve your team within reason,” Sweeney said. “But RFA has been a part of that plan, so I’m not going to overextend ourselves unless it was something we felt was the perfect fit for our hockey club at this time.

Of course, plenty can change between tonight and Monday afternoon. Perhaps Boston gets its deals done with its RFAs, and can more accurately assess where it stands when it comes to its cap capabilities.

But for now, the Bruins are expected to jump headfirst into free-agency, blindfold and all.

“I’d obviously like to bring back a team that won one more game to be perfectly honest with you,” Sweeney said. “It’s never going to be the same team year to year. There’s always going to be changes that occur.”