Who could Bruins target in free agency to bolster their blue line?

Cam Neely was pretty forthright when it came to identifying Boston’s top need this offseason.

“The elusive left D we’ve been looking for that can chew up a lot of minutes. … That’d be more of a shutdown or some puck movement,” the B’s president said. “Some offensive blue-line acumen. As we saw, you can never have enough D and we never seem to have enough. For some reason or another, we get banged up.   

“I think our D this year had maybe eight concussions, which is something I don’t know how to combat. But that position is something that we’ve been looking for, for a while. And hopefully we can do something to grab someone that’s going to help, maybe play 20 minutes a game for us.”

Of course, you likely didn’t need Neely’s musings to share a similar sentiment regarding the state of Boston’s blue line — not if you saw the D corps that Boston rolled out by Game 6 against the Islanders.

Be it injuries to Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller that sapped Boston’s netfront presence and PK structure or puck-movers like Matt Grzelcyk and Mike Reilly taking a beating from the Isles’ furious forecheck — the Bruins’ second-round exit exposed a dangerous lack of depth on defense, one that needs to be shored up in short order if this team really hopes to retool on the fly. 

But finding a left-shot D that … 

Can eat 20+ minutes a night…
Chip in offensively ...
And Shut down opponents …

… is easier said than done. 

Depending on what Boston does with Reilly this offseason, you could make the case that Boston should be in the market for at least a few blueliners — whether it be the aforementioned top-four D, another veteran presence on the left side or even a right-shot depth option, especially with Miller’s future uncertain and Connor Clifton potentially a target of the Kraken in the upcoming expansion draft. 

A trade might be the best avenue when it comes to acquiring a legitimate top-four talent to pair with either Carlo or Charlie McAvoy, but there are a number of free agents on the market that could fit the bill when it comes to beefing up this defense.

Let’s take a look at a few candidates:

LEFT-SHOT DEFENSEMEN

Alec Martinez, Vegas Golden Knights

Well, if the Bruins had a blank check— Martinez would make plenty of sense for Boston when it comes to checking off plenty of the boxes that Neely described when it comes to a minutes-eating, left-shot D that can generate offense from the blue line. 

A top-four stalwart on the Golden Knights, Martinez is setting himself up for at least one more solid payday — with the 33-year-old skater averaging 22:34 of ice time and recording nine goals and 32 total points over 53 games with Vegas this season. 

Along with his playmaking ability (he ranks in the 95th percentile among NHL defensemen in terms of even-strength offense), Martinez is exactly the type of battle-tested playoff performer that a team in a win-now window like Boston would covet — with the two-way blueliner have already won two Cups with the Kings (and potentially in line to win another with Vegas this next month). 

But there are a couple of risks when it comes to setting one’s sights on Martinez as the quick fix for Boston’s D corps. While Martinez put together the best offensive totals of his career in 2020-21, his even-strength defense was a bit more pedestrian (30th percentile.)

 And even though he’s been fantastic this year (slotting the 2020-21 version of Martinez next to Carlo would solve a LOT of issues for this club), he is going to turn 34 in July and is coming off a peak season at his age. 

Considering that Martinez is setting himself up to be one of the highest paid blueliners on the free-agent market (behind Dougie Hamilton), Boston may want to invest their cap space elsewhere — not only because they have multiple holes to fill across the roster, but because the inevitable decline in Martinez’s game could start as soon as next season. 

Jamie Oleksiak, Dallas Stars

Well, it’s easy to see why plenty of Bruins fans have set their sights on a guy like Oleksiak as a free-agent target. If beefing up their blue line is going to be a priority this summer, you can’t go wrong with a guy like Oleksiak, who clocks in at 6-foot-7, 255-pounds. 

But give credit to the 28-year-old defenseman — while he was limited in his first few seasons as more of just a big body on the blue line, the former Northeastern Husky has really developed into an effective top-four shutdown presence with Dallas. 

He may not be as dynamic offensively as a Martinez, but if Boston is looking for a guy that can rip slappers from the point, Oleksiak fits the bill — with the Toronto native scoring six goals and 14 points over 56 games last season. 

But Oleksiak's value is maximized, as expected, when he’s anchoring his team’s D-zone — regularly pushing skaters out of Grade-A ice and clearing pucks away from his netminder. Ranked in the 98th percentile of NHL defensemen in terms of even-strength defense, Oleksiak placed 22nd out of 171 blueliners in goals against per 60 minutes at 1.86 last year. 

He expects to be a hot commodity on the free-agent market given his size and shutdown ability, but Oleksiak is exactly what Boston is looking for, especially if paired with either McAvoy or Carlo. 

Jake McCabe, Buffalo Sabres

Signing Martinez is a bit of a risk given his age, but McCabe could be a true wild card given his health. The 27-year-old blueliner may not be ready until the very start of the 2021-22 season — as he was handed a six-to-eight month recovery timeline back in February after suffering ACL, MCL and meniscus injuries during a game against the Devils back on Feb. 20. 

As such, signing McCabe as your surefire bet to serve as a top-four presence might be asking a lot for a guy coming off of a significant injury. But if Boston is looking for value on the free-agent market and bringing aboard a guy with a very, very high ceiling — there’s a lot to like about what McCabe could bring to a D corps. 

Even though he was limited to just 13 games with Buffalo this past season, McCabe served as one of the few bright spots on an otherwise miserable Sabres team — averaging 19:11 of ice and stocking up his highlight reels with a number of thunderous hits and strong D-zone play.

But McCabe is more than just another body that can dole out some punishment — as he ranked in the 71st percentile of blueliners in even-strength offense and the 96th percentile in even-strength defense, with just 42.62 percent of his faceoffs set in the offensive zone during 5v5 play. 

Buffalo’s roster might have been a dumpster fire last year, but man — their entire defensive structure completely imploded once McCabe was lost for the year. 

It’s risky, but if McCabe recovers as expected, he’s a great option for any D corps. 

Alex Goligoski, Arizona Coyotes

Set to turn 36 in late July, Goligoski is nothing more than a short-term measure on the blue line — which, given Boston’s win-now mentality, might fall in line with what they’re looking for in terms of free-agent defensemen. He’s not a big body at 5-foot-11, but Goligoski eats plenty of minutes (23:00 ATOI) and is still an adept puck mover and playmaker (22 points in 56 games). It remains to be seen how long Goligoski can keeping playing at this level before the tires completely wear out, but he’s a potential option, especially if Boston opts to move on from Reilly.

Dmitry Kulikov, Edmonton Oilers 

If Boston is targeting more of a third-pairing option on the left side (which could be the case if Seattle was to target Jeremy Lauzon in the expansion draft), a depth piece like Kulikov could make sense as a value pick-up. He may not be flashy, but the 30-year-old defenseman held up well last season as a shutdown option further down in the lineup, with the Oilers’ expected goals per 60 rate dropping from 2.45 to 1.82 when he was on the ice. 

As for the right side? 

With Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo in place, one might think that Boston may not need to significantly augment the right side of its D corps — but as we noted earlier, whether it be Clifton’s potential departure, Miller’s status or Carlo’s concerning injury history, Boston might need to add at least one right-shot D before camp opens in September.

Adam Larsson, Edmonton Oilers

No, I’m not including Larsson on here just so we could potentially have both him and Taylor Hall on the same roster. 

But if Boston is looking for a steady defender on the right side, Larsson is cut form the same cloth as an Oleksiak — with the big-bodied blueliner developing into a steady, shutdown option. However, methinks the Oilers (a team already quite barren as far as its defensive structure goes) aren’t going to let him walk in free agency, while Boston is not likely going to toss out the type of cash that Larsson is coveting for, especially considering Boston is looking more at a third-pairing, depth option on the right side. 

David Savard, Tampa Bay Lightning

The Bolts likely overpaid a bit when they dealt a first and third-round pick to scoop up Savard from the Blue Jackets, but the 30-year-old veteran has been as advertised as a physical, big-bodied blueliner that can block shots and keep opposing skaters to the outside. 

Given how many other holes Boston must fill on the roster, it remains to be seen if Boston has the cap room to divert some capital to a guy in Savard that would likely serve more as a replacement to Kevan Miller — but the veteran would really shore up a third pairing that was routinely diced up in the postseason. 

He may be a bit of a black hole offensively, but a guy like Savard can really make his presence felt during the grind of a playoff push, especially if he’s your third option on the right side. 

Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, HockeyViz and JFreshHockey.