The left side of Boston’s D corps was already due for an upgrade this summer, but now an already thin depth chart is set to take another hit.
As expected after a flurry of leaks undercut the national broadcast of the Seattle expansion draft, the Kraken selected Jeremy Lauzon from the Bruins — snagging the 24-year-old defenseman that had his ups and downs during his first full season of NHL action in 2021.
As we noted in our earlier notebook regarding Lauzon’s potential departure, the move itself is a no-brainer for the Kraken — who were likely going to have to pick between either him or another affordable third-pairing defenseman in Connor Clifton.
Even though Boston likely would have preferred it if the Kraken took a player like Nick Ritchie (in line for a pay day as an RFA) off the books, acquiring Lauzon gives Seattle a cost-controlled blue liner that could, at the very least, serve as a third-pairing stalwart at an annual cap hit of just $850,000 this season. He’ll be due for a bump in pay next summer, but Seattle should still hold plenty of leverage given that Lauzon will still be an RFA.
Even though Clifton might be a better player at this current stage, Lauzon might have a higher ceiling — and coupled with more team control — it made the Quebec native a more appealing option to Seattle GM Ron Francis.
Boston likely has its eyes set adding to this D corps this summer, but Lauzon was still viewed as a solid depth piece that could be penciled in as a third-pairing regular and PK contributor or at the very least a very strong bench option in 2021-22. Injuries derailed Lauzon after an encouraging start last year, although his numbers were also buoyed at times by earning hefty minutes next to Charlie McAvoy or getting tossed easier O-zone starts.
Jeremy Lauzon, reportedly selected by SEA, is a young defenceman who's been just about average so far in his career. Played 2nd pair minutes with Boston this season, albeit not particularly tough ones. #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/ui5ISHRaAn
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) July 21, 2021
From the Bruins’ perspective, you could make the argument that Clifton’s departure would have caused more headaches this summer — leaving a hole on the right side after also losing Kevan Miller, who retired last week. Clifton staying put doesn’t preclude the B’s from signing a guy like Jani Hakanpaa to bolster that right side, but it’s not nearly as much of a priority had the Kraken instead scooped up the Quinnipiac product.
However, the only way that Boston manages to absorb the loss of Lauzon is to actually go out and add to that left side — which after Matt Grzelcyk, gets … pretty rough.
John Moore is slated to return, although given his struggles and injury concerns, it sure seems unlikely that the veteran will be penciled into a starting spot with this team’s win-now window. Jakub Zboril and perhaps even Urho Vaakanainen could look to compete for the void left by Lauzon — but again, there’s a lot of risk involved in running with the kids in a season with so much on the line.
If Boston manages to ink a few free agents (or trade for D help) that can log minutes and can help out on the PK, then the B’s should be in fine shape post-Kraken draft. But keeping the status quo on a thin D corps that just lost — at the very least — a minutes-eating regular, just isn’t going to cut it.
The Kraken might have plucked a player from 30 NHL rosters, but based on their approach, the NHL’s new franchise might be an even greater threat once free agency opens up — with Seattle still flush with cap space (around $28 million, per CapFriendly).
Given how few teams have cap flexibility this summer due to a flat-cap market, dropping a team with money to burn like the Kraken into the fray isn’t exactly good news for the Bruins — especially considering that Boston was expected to be one of the more active teams on the free-agent market.
Seattle has already scooped up one potential B’s free-agent target in Jamie Oleksiak — and could be on the prowl for more over the coming weeks.
Here is the full list of players selected by the Kraken:
Anaheim Ducks — Haydn Fleury, defenseman
Arizona Coyotes — Tyler Pitlick, forward
Boston Bruins — Jeremy Lauzon, defenseman
Buffalo Sabres — William Borgen, defenseman
Calgary Flames — Mark Giordano, defenseman
Carolina Hurricanes — Morgan Geekie, forward
Chicago Blackhawks — John Quenneville, forward
Colorado Avalanche — Joonas Donskoi, forward
Columbus Blue Jackets — Gavin Bayreuthe, defenseman
Dallas Stars — Jamie Oleksiak, defenseman
Detroit Red Wings — Dennis Cholowski, defenseman
Edmonton Oilers — Adam Larsson, defenseman
Florida Panthers — Chris Driedger, goalie
Los Angeles Kings — Kurtis MacDermid, defenseman
Minnesota Wild — Carson Soucy, defenseman
Montreal Canadiens — Cale Fleury, defenseman
Nashville Predators — Calle Jarnkrok, forward
New Jersey Devils — Nathan Bastian, forward
New York Islanders — Jordan Eberle, forward
New York Rangers — Colin Blackwell, forward
Ottawa Senators — Joey Daccord, goalie
Philadelphia Flyers — Carsen Twarynski, left wing
Pittsburgh Penguins — Brandon Tanev, forward
San Jose Sharks — Alexander True, forward
St. Louis Blues — Vince Dunn, defenseman
Tampa Bay Lightning — Yanni Gourde, forward
Toronto Maple Leafs — Jared McCann, forward
Vancouver Canucks — Kole Lind, forward
Washington Capitals — Vitek Vanecek, goalie
Winnipeg Jets — Mason Appleton, forward