Don Sweeney held his annual pre-draft media availability via Zoom on Thursday morning — but the Bruins GM spent most of his presser discussing some of the veterans hanging in the balance this offseason, rather than the youngsters Boston could be targeting in round one.
Here’s a quick look at some of the top takeaways from Sweeney’s conference and where Boston stands on a number of offseason tasks.
Still no word from Krejci
Based on recent reports over the last few days — validated by Sweeney’s comments on Thursday — it seems like it’s only a matter of time before Taylor Hall re-ups with Boston on a new contract.
“Made significant progress on Taylor,” Sweeney said. “I hope that we will find a finish line. Looking forward to hopefully having him back as a big part of what we’re trying to do this year and moving forward. We’ve made significant progress there.”
It’s great news for a Bruins team focused on bringing most of the band back together in hopes of another run at the Cup, but another major domino has yet to fall in David Krejci — with the veteran still mulling his future for the 2021-22 season and beyond.
Sweeney and the Bruins remain in contact with Krejci, as the B’s have not received an answer in terms of whether or not their longtime second-line center plans to play in the NHL this year.
“Have been in touch with David. Going to respect all his privacy and decisions,” Sweeney said. “At this point in time he has not given a firm indication. As he referenced before, he’s got some things that he wants to address, and then he’ll let us know. But yeah, I have been in regular communication with David. There’s no timeline to make decisions.”
As we noted earlier this month, Krejci’s return might be the most important factor in determining how viable this team’s Stanley Cup odds are in 21-22 — considering few realistic contingency plans exist that offer Boston both the value and production that Krejci brings if he returns on a short-term deal.
Even if Boston’s offseason outlook could hang on Krejci’s decision, Sweeney stressed the Bruins aren’t stuck in limbo as they await word from Krejci.
“No. We have guys that will step into roles,” Sweeney said. “Obviously we’ll address needs throughout our lineup and certainly explore options and address it as we go. We acknowledge that it would be a big hole if we had to fill it, but a real good opportunity for someone if we do go in that direction. We’re going to have to find a way to spread things around if David makes a decision otherwise, but that hasn’t been the indication. We’re hopeful that he’ll come back, and we’ll see.”
Defense a priority this summer
With Kevan Miller retiring, Jeremy Lauzon off to Seattle and the Bruins defenseman corps exposed during last month’s second-round exit against the Islanders, Sweeney stated the obvious when it came to one of Boston’s offseason priorities — they're going to have to bolster their blue line.
“We have to identify that we have a couple of holes and gaps that we have to fill. Certainly addressed a long term future with Brandon [Carlo], and we’re happy to have him back in the fold as an important part as our defense is put together," Sweeney said. "We have to address another need — if not one, if not two from a depth perspective, but also the handling of heavy minutes in all situations. We’re going to try to be aggressive in that front and see if we can address the need.”
As for negotiations with another pending UFA in Mike Reilly:
“We’ve had constant communication with Mike’s group,” Sweeney said. “Haven’t found a finish line there, but we thought highly of Mike and what he added to our group. We’ll continue to talk there and see what might transpire. He had some options too, and they want to explore that, but certainly we’ll be in touch with that. “
Updates on Rask
Sweeney confirmed that Tuukka Rask will undergo hip surgery later this month, and discussions remain ongoing between Rask and the team in terms toward a potential return in January or February after he recovers from surgery.
“Well, he won’t be ready for the start of the season, and we know that. We’ll know the timeline associated with it,” Sweeney said. “Tuukka and I’s communication has been good. Just allowing him to get healthy, first and foremost, and we’ll see where he’s at after that, both mentally and physically.
“Tuukka’s certainly earned that right to make sure he makes the right decisions for his own health and well-being and where he wants to be from a playing standpoint. He was very honest with us in communicating that and we’re honest in terms of what we’d be comfortable with going forward. We’ll see how he progresses from phase to phase.”
The Bruins could opt to stick with Jeremy Swayman and Dan Vladar in net while waiting for Rask’s eventual return. It seems likely Boston will be exploring veteran goalies on the free-agent market this summer as added insurance.
“Well, we’re certainly exploring all of our options, including with Tuukka’s surgery coming up and the unknown, a little bit, in terms of how that’s going to become with the surgery,” Sweeney said. “We are looking to address from the depth perspective and add to that group. We have some flexibility in that regard.
"We think very highly of both goaltenders in Jeremy and Daniel. We feel like we’re in good shape, depth-wise, organizationally, but we’re probably going to look to add to that group and have a little bit of veteran presence there that could offset both those guys.”
Qualifying offers expected
The most surprising news from Sweeney’s presser was his confirmation that Boston plans to extend qualifying offers to restricted free agents in Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase and Zach Senyshyn.
Kase might be the biggest head-scratcher, considering his QO would court for $2.6-million against the cap — which the oft-injured winger would seem to almost certainly accept. If Boston opted to not qualify Kase, they could either let him walk in free agency and get that contract off the books, or re-negotiate a new deal with less of a cap hit if Kase wants to return on more of a prove-it deal.
We’ll see where the chips fall in regards to these restricted free agents (perhaps Boston uses that $2.6 million for long-term injured reserve purposes?), but in the immediate aftermath, it’s hard to try to find a logical answer for keeping a guy like Kase on board at that current cap hit.