A robust trade market might be Bruins' best bet at retooling this offseason & other takeaways from Don Sweeney’s end-of-season address

Don Sweeney held his annual end-of-the-season press conference via Zoom on Wednesday morning — touching on a number of topics, including an unpredictable offseason, pending free agents and much more. Here are a few takeaways from Sweeney’s chat:

Bruins ready to explore trade market:

For as much as a flat salary cap looms large this offseason for just about every team in the NHL, Don Sweeney and the Bruins do have some cap flexibility ahead of what could be a pretty eventful fall for the Original Six franchise.

With over $3 million in dead money coming off the books via buyout cash for Dennis Seidenberg and retained salary from the Matt Beleskey blunder — coupled with the potential departures of Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Joakim Nordstrom and others — Boston should have some fiscal freedom once free agency commences on Oct. 6.

Of course, some of the $15 million in available cap room will need to be allocated to RFAs like Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk (along with any other UFAs Boston is able to retain), but Boston should still have some resources available to scour the open market in search of additional pieces for this talented — but imperfect — roster.

https://twitter.com/bruinscapspace/status/1300634628634669056

But just because Boston has some cash to spend, doesn't mean that it will be the avenue that Sweeney takes when it comes to retooling this team on the fly and setting this core up for at least one more run at the Cup.



"I think that will depend on if we make any roster moves prior to that," Sweeney said of his willingness to spend on free agents. "There are a lot of teams that are up against the cap in a flat cap environment. ...We’re looking to make some changes in our group. I feel very good about overall organization we are and how competitive we are. But, we have to - I’m not doing my job if I’m not looking to improve our hockey club on a daily basis without being dissatisfied. I know our group needs to be pushed and have hopefully some internal growth with some players that are coming up on waivers and they have to have an opportunity to make our hockey club. Otherwise, we make hard decisions. I do believe the free agency period will be dictated by whether we make any transactions prior to that, in and around – prior to that or in and around the draft."

With so many teams constricted this offseason due to a stagnant cap, the trade market will likely be the preferred avenue many clubs take when it comes to improving their roster or selling off talent — an offseason strategy aided by the fact that this upcoming free-agent pool is rather top-heavy as far as slam-dunk signings go once you get beyond the big names like Alex Pietrangelo, Taylor Hall and Krug.

As such, if Boston wants to really swing for the fences in the coming months and bring aboard some new blood capable of correcting some of this roster's flaws, Sweeney and his staff might have to focus their efforts this fall on weighing which of their own assets are expendable in any potential deals.

Even without its first-round pick this season, Boston still has trade chips at the ready if a top-six forward or top-four blueliner was available for the right price. Along with draft capital, Boston boasts some intriguing prospects in the system — some of which could push for NHL minutes as soon as next season in Jack Studnicka (an unlikely piece to dealt, barring a major return), Trent Frederic, Urho Vaakanainen and others.

Jake DeBrusk, if Boston is unable to come to terms on a new deal to satisfy all parties, could be dangled as young, talented winger that could be on the cusp of a breakout, while younger NHLers with both term and low price tags in Anders Bjork, Connor Clifton and Jeremy Lauzon could also be coveted by other teams.

In an offseason dominated by the paralyzing effects of this cap crunch, the Bruins at least some options available when it comes to augmenting this roster. Still, even if this club has more freedom than most teams when it comes to offseason moves — very few of them will come without a cost.

"There’s been plenty of talk of teams trying to move pieces around and players to improve their own clubs and we’re going to do the exact same thing," Sweeney said. "Having conversations, I’m pretty aware of how teams are valuing players on our roster. So, I have to look at it and say, 'Ok, does that mean we have the internal growth available to fill that spot?' Any time you look at moving players in and out, you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul in the situation.

"We have to understand that. ... Generally you know your own players better than anybody else’s, but you’re trying to learn what the other player can bring to the table and where he fits. We did that at the deadline. It worked in the Carolina series and it didn’t work in the Lightning series perhaps as an organization. Again, we didn’t play our best hockey and we weren’t at full strength. It’s really incumbent upon me as a manager to improve our club. It’s on me to explore every opportunity we have to improving it. There are certain players I certainly want to avoid because they are part of what we are trying to accomplish right now and in the future. And we’ll try to do that. but I have to explore to continue to improve our club."

Sweeney has "zero reservations" about Rask's status with Boston

Boston has plenty of work to take care of over the next few months, especially when it comes to jumpstarting an uneven 5v5 offense and potentially finding another top-four skater on the blue line. But when it comes to the Bruins' situation in net, Sweeney isn't sweating it.

While talk of the Tuukka Rask's future in Boston has been one of the dominant narratives since this season has come to a close, Sweeney isn't entertaining such talk about his No. 1 netminder. Even if such scenarios of Rask playing elsewhere in 2020 — or even opting to walk away from the game itself — were born out of recent developments, headlined of course by Rask's decision to leave the Toronto bubble in order to attend to a family matter, Sweeney doesn't believe those developments hold significant sway when it comes to a premature departure between player and organization.

"I have zero reservations about where Tuukka will be both on and off the ice for us," Sweeney said. "We feel we’ve had strong goaltending the last couple years, we've done a good job of mapping out the health of both players and preserving when they're at their at their best. We continue to want to do that going forward and I think we're in a really good spot with our goaltending. We’ll address needs as we see them going forward."

Ultimately, if Boston intends on putting together at least one more legitimate Cup run with this roster, the Bruins will be at their best with a tandem of Rask and Jaroslav Halak back in tow — a strategy that has fared awfully well for this club over the last two seasons. By keeping that duo intact, it should also give Boston's brightest goalie prospects in Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar an opportunity to battle one another for the lion's share of reps down in Providence next season — especially with Boston likely set to move on from veteran Max Lagace down in the AHL ranks.

"I have zero reservations," Sweeney reiterated when asked of Rask's return next season. "If you look at Tuukka’s actual play – I do believe he’s a Vezina finalist this year. For me, that pretty much dictates everything. Obviously, his own personal life, we all have matters that at times we have to deal with and he’s been given the opportunities in a couple instances to make sure he feels good on and off the ice. I think any player, any manger, any person involved in sport or in life would respect – has to respect that people have to tend to their own personal business.

"How he chooses to do that is his own decision and his alone. We provide resources for all of our players to work through any issues that they may or may not have on and off the ice and then provide support accordingly. And we’re not going to deviate from that. You have to respect his privacy and allow him the latitude to take care of it. And ultimately it hasn’t affected his play on the ice. We have good goaltending and we’ll continue to do so."

Sweeney talks Chara, Krug 

When it comes to Boston's pool of upcoming free agents — both restricted and unrestricted — Sweeney noted that discussions haven't begun in earnest quite yet, with the club already starting pro scouting meetings via Zoom and beginning coaches meetings later this week. However, player meetings will be on the horizon — a window that should begin RFA negotiations for youngsters in line for a pay raise in Grzelcyk and DeBrusk, while also gauging the interest for players about to hit the open market.

One pending UFA that has made it explicitly clear that he would like to return is captain Zdeno Chara, who, even at 43 years old, should still provide value to this team, especially if shifted into more of a third-pairing role that's capable of logging shutdown minutes in crunch time.

"I think we're going to check some boxes that we need to and then we're going to start to address on an individual player level," Sweeney said. "And I respect Zdeno’s comments, he always been an iconic player for us, an important player for us, and we're going to explore opportunities with he and other players that have either UFA or RFA status and hopefully check off the boxes like we have with several other players and continue to move forward and improve our hockey club and addressing Zdeno’s contractual situation is part of that process."

As for Torey Krug — who was very candid when speaking last week about his future in Boston — Sweeney didn’t divulge much when it came to the organization’s ongoing discussions with their power-play QB. 

“We haven't found a landing spot,” Sweeney said. “Listen, I respect Torey coming in as a rookie free agent and making our hockey club. I only hope that we made the moves to accommodate what he and his family and agent feel he has earned. I would be the last person to begrudge any player trying to make the best decision for them and their family, and in a perfect world it's with us, but we know that the world is anything but perfect right about now.

“So again, I don't have an update on any individual contract level. Torey’s personal voice, he’s entitled to say whatever the hell he feels he wants to say. You guys know me well enough that I'm not going to comment publicly on any different contract negotiations other than hoping to find a landing spot when I have good player and people that I feel are important to our organization and Torey is such.”