Sweeney says roster turnover lies ahead for the Bruins, no matter what

The Bruins were all in.

Don Sweeney maneuvered the salary cap – with the help of assistant general manager and cap guru Evan Gold – at the trade deadline to bring in Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway, draft picks and cap space be damned.

It set Boston up as perhaps the deepest roster, on paper, in the NHL, priming the B's for a long-haul playoff run amid a historic season. 

Fast forward to the end of the movie, and there Sweeney was on Tuesday at TD Garden, parsing through his autopsy of the Bruins, nine days after they had unceremoniously bowed out to the Florida Panthers in a seven-game first round. 

"Our goal was to put the season on the absolute best roster we could put together and try and take a real legitimate run and we failed, no question," Sweeney said. "So, we have to pay that forward a little bit."

Paying it forward they are.

The deadline splashes and sly incentive-laden deals for Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci were all for naught. Now, Boston is strapped for cash with seven unrestricted free agents to make decisions on, including their deadline acquisitions, and a number of restricted free agents in the system to deal with. Jeremy Swayman and Trent Frederic stand atop the latter category. 

"I couldn't just categorically sign those players today," Sweeney said when asked if he feels he can realistically retain any of his three deadline additions. "You know, our cap situation, we leveraged a little bit. Everybody knows our overage at $4.5 [million]. So, we have some constraints, as do several other teams around the league."

A combined bonus overage from Bergeron and Krejci's deals leaves the B's with less than $5 million in spending money to do business, considering the salary cap is only expected to bump $1 million, again. There will be collateral damage. Mike Reilly is a buyout candidate if Sweeney can once again find zero takers. Taylor Hall and Matt Grzlecyk, among others, may find themselves as cap casualties. 

The reality of the hard-cap world, which should (mercifully) come to an end next summer.

"I mean, the salary cap will be an issue for maybe a year, but then the cap is going to go through the roof over the next couple of years," Brad Marchand said last week at break-up day. 

There's talk of a jump from the likely $83.5 million for 2023-24 to $88 million for 2024-25. That can't come soon enough for the Bruins, who are now figuring out how they'll be "paying it forward" during the organization's centennial season next year.

"That might mean we're instituting younger players, that might mean roster changes – which we would like to make – that might mean I might be able to sign one of those three players or other unrestricted players," Sweeney said. "We have to address the two RFAs in Frederic and Swayman, which we will do.

"Roster changes are likely coming. You know, we're not going to be the same team, but our mandate internally, collectively as a group, is we have a really strong core of guys that hopefully, as Jim [Montgomery] was talking about, will continue to grow and will take leadership responsibility moving forward regardless of whether or not Patrice and David walk back through the door. Because they need to. Charlie [Jacobs] referenced the 100 years. Well, these guys are part of the next 100, and they should understand that the expectations don't change in that regard.”

Instituting younger players is imperative for the Bruins, especially in terms of filling out the bottom of the roster, as Sweeney later noted.

Recent Stanley Cup Champions have benefitted from having younger, team-controlled players on either entry-level or minimal money, making strong impacts throughout the lineup. As a few examples, the Avalanche had Cale Makar and Bowen Byram in 2022 (although, few teams boast players of their calber) and the Lightning had Anthony Cirelli in 2020 before Erik Cernak in 2021. There were the Blues with Vince Dunn and Robert Thomas in 2019, the Capitals with Jakob Vrana in 2018, the Penguins with Jake Guentzel in 2017 and Bryan Rust in 2016.

That's not to say Boston has the next Makar in the system. Nobody does. 

Offensive weapons with top-six potential like Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell may or may not be ready next season. The same can be said of Mason Lohrei on the backend. Even if the top-end prospects wind up needing more seasoning, Jakub Lauko, Marc McLaughlin, Oskar Steen and maybe even John Beecher should be on the precipice of making bottom-six impacts for the Bruins. 

Lauko made the most of his NHL opportunities this past season, Steen and McLaughlin have shown flashes at various points – the latter was one of their best in training camp, and his being sent down caused an uproar – and Beecher's speed, size and two-way game should allow him to be a viable option as well. 

With or without Bergeron or Krejci, the Bruins need contributions from younger, cheaper role players. They haven't had much of it recently, and Swayman was the only consistent contributor still on entry-level money this season. It's simply a necessity in the salary cap world, even if the cap is due for a surge soon. 

They'll be given every opportunity in training camp.

"We have to grow and foster some younger players that will play some roles," Sweeney said. "We have some challenges, and that just might mean that younger players will have their ears pinned back in terms of the opportunity that is presented to them as well. The cap flexibility will certainly be an area that I'm going to try and explore.”

The organization isn't holding Bergeron and Krejci to a set timeline on their decisions, although Krejci said last week he hopes to have one "soon" and Bergeron set his ballpark as before July 1. The Bruins are still accounting for every option.

"We went through this exercise last offseason in putting together two kind of simultaneous rosters," Sweeney said. "I probably had an indication early enough last summer to go in the direction that we were able to execute. Some things came after that, [trading for and signing] Pavel Zacha is an example of sort of understanding where we may be and where we want to be. ... You look at the core group of guys that we currently have that had very, very successful regular seasons and we’ll build around that. Maybe it’ll be integrating younger players. You can already see where our minds are going in terms of running simultaneous things, and we’ll respect the timelines on David and Patrice as necessary.”

The Bruins are still strong on the wings at the top of the lineup with Marchand, David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk and perhaps Zacha if a switch to center isn't needed next season. There's Hall if he remains a Bruin and/or Bertuzzi if he re-signs. Frederic figures to continue his upward trajectory, whether at wing or center. 

Meanwhile, Zacha and Charlie Coyle showed flashes of their abilities down the middle in elevated roles down the stretch. Zacha had a career season, while Coyle had his best year in Boston yet. Even if their auditions in the top-six were strong early in the first round – the first line didn't miss a beat with Zacha at center in Game 1, and Coyle was a man possessed in Game 3 – the production on the scoresheet still fizzled. Still, they could be viable stopgaps until that next franchise center emerges.

"If they come back next year, we'll pretty much look the same, minus a couple guys," Marchand said. "If not, you gotta look at what Zacha and Coyle in [Games] 3 and 4, and the way our team would pretty much look. It would still be a very competitive group. With anybody moving on, it brings opportunity for other guys to step up. I don't think anyone expected Zacha to have the year he did. ... Someone else will do that with the opportunity. That's how people find jobs and start a career. As people move on, it's an opportunity for someone else to seize the moment."

On defense, even if the returns were marginal in the postseason, the bedrock is there with Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo. 

The bones of a playoff team remain in place.

"We feel good about, you know, if you look at guys who can go and play a top-six role right now. I think we have to fill the bottom part of our roster," Sweeney said. "I believe our [defense] core of, when you start with Carlo, Lindholm and McAvoy, you know, is really at the top level of the league and how they performed in particular in the regular season and in pockets in the playoffs, to the same degree. We had very, very good goaltending in the regular season. As I referenced earlier, structure breakdowns and team-wide breakdowns led to the fact that we're not playing today. They have to take some ownership of that, but you have to feel good about playing either one of them, you know, moving forward."

Cam Neely said, "The goal is always to remain competitive. Don mentioned the pieces that we have coming back are pretty good hockey players. You know, I think we got a little taste of potentially what the team might look like in Games 3and 4 [with Zacha and Coyle in the top-six]. I thought those two games obviously put us up three games to one. So, I think we can still be a better team, but there's a lot of work to do this summer, there’s no question."

There is no shortage of options for Sweeney, Neely and Gold this offseason, who have their work cut out for them.

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Bruins sign Mason Lohrei to entry-level contract

The B's inked their top defense prospect to a two-year ELC worth $925,000 per year.

Lohrei had an assist in a combined eight regular season and playoff games with the Providence Bruins after signing an amateur tryout agreement out of Ohio State.

The 58th overall pick in 2020, he put up 61 points (four goals) in 71 games over two seasons with the Buckeyes, ranking ninth among blue-liners in scoring in that span.

The rangy defenseman (6-foot-4, 209 pounds), brings a unique two-way and transitional ability as a converted forward. He expertly quarterbacked OSU's top-20 power play (81.4 percent). He was top-10 in points among defensemen with 32 points in 40 games, leading the Bucks to an NCAA tournament appearance this season. 

"Especially with the puck offensively, he’s a gifted player," Sweeney said in an interview with NESN after Lohrei left Ohio State. "He’s got a lot of poise, and you know can really change the game. He’s got a long reach. It’ll be an adjustment, systematically, but we’re excited about his upside and development path. ...  It’s been a pretty big upward trend here. Mason was a forward not too long ago before moving back to play defense. His dad’s a coach, so I think he probably helped along the way. Obviously a great development program at Ohio State. His offensive prowess in the USHL was really meteoric between one year and the next, and our guys did a tremendous job identifying him and the upside. Obviously there’s a big, long frame there. A gifted player with a real good hockey sense.”

“We’ll see what happens, but I feel I’m ready to make that next step,” Lohrei told reporters after signing his ATO. "There are going to be growing pains no matter what, but I’m confident in myself and I know I can play at this level.”

Here is Lohrei's scouting report from his draft year: