Bruins will be ‘aggressive’ this offseason to improve roster, says GM originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins have a very good roster and, in many ways, the team exceeded expectations last season.
But after failing to score enough goals in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs – and particularly against the Florida Panthers in the second round – there is no doubt that This group needs an infusion of top offensive talent.
The Bruins have scored two or fewer goals in the last five of six games against the Panthers in the second round. Jeremy Swayman it was fantastic online with a .917 save percentage in the series and a .933 save percentage in the playoffs overall, but even that level of goaltending wasn’t enough to overcome the types of scoring problems Boston faced, both at 5-on-5 and in the game of power, during the postseason
The Bruins scored 3.21 goals per game in the regular season, then dropped to 2.38 goals per game in the playoffs. That’s a pretty significant decrease, especially when the margin for error in the playoffs is often very small.
“The margins are small. I mean, the last three games in the series have been 3-2, 2-1, 2-1,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Wednesday in the team’s finale. season press conference. “Ultimately, the other team is having a hard time scoring, and as teams get deeper into the playoffs, things get more complicated.
“You have to find a way – we don’t get into rebounding situations enough that we could take advantage of. So there are some things we need to address, and I need to address it from a free agency and/or internal growth standpoint… We have to complement – I have to be able to find some players who can come in and provide secondary scoring for us in key moments. .”
What will the Bruins approach to adding offensive firepower in the summer?
“We’re in a situation where we can grow our core group of players,” Sweeney said. He later added, “We’re going to be aggressive, you know, to be able to complement what we currently have in some areas.”
“We will be aggressive to complement what we currently have.”
Don Sweeney on how the Bruins will utilize space in the offseason pic.twitter.com/FpV9wTSy8V
-NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSBoston) May 22, 2024
Speed is a specific area the Bruins want to improve in the future.
“We’re not as fast as we’d like,” Bruins president Cam Neely said Wednesday.
Unlike last summer, Sweeney has much more salary cap flexibility this off-season. The Bruins should have about $21 million in cap space, by CapFriendlyand that number could grow to around $26 million if goaltender Linus Ullmark (and his $5 million cap hit) is traded.
The Bruins should have enough cap space to make a substantial roster addition during the offseason, and as explained above, the biggest weaknesses are on offense. This roster needs a legitimate top-six and a natural scorer. And luckily for the Bruins, the free agent market could be full of very good forwards.
Top centers with the ability to hit the market include Elias Lindholm, Steven Stamkos, Matt Duchene and Chandler Stephenson. Top left/right wingers capable of becoming free agents include Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Sam Reinhart, Jonathan Marchessault, Tyler Toffoli, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Bruins could also hit the trade market for help. They don’t have many high-end prospects to choose from, but they do have 2025 and 2026 first-round picks to use.
Whether it’s free agency or trades, the Bruins can’t enter next season with similar offensive prowess and hope for a better playoff fate. Of course, some growth should be expected from young players like Matthew Poitras and Mason Lohrei, and that will help boost the offense further.
But in order for the Bruins to compete with teams like the Rangers and Panthers in the Eastern Conference, they need to add at least one top forward to their roster before Opening Night in October.
