Bruins Should Be Cautious in Thin Free Agent Market

While players like Fabian Lysell, Georgi Merkulov, Marat Khusnutdinov, Fraser Minten and Matt Poitras are all competing for top-nine jobs on the roster, the team also has Casey Mittelstadt, who could be a factor in the top-six alongside Zacha. Assuming the Bruins start Mittelstadt and Zacha together on the team’s second line, that would leave the right-wing position open for one of the young players to make their mark. Rather than filling that hole via free agency just for the sake of filling the hole, the team has two other options that may be more attractive in the long term.

Bruins’ Forward Prospects Deserve an Opportunity This Season

Given the logjam of talented but unproven young players on the roster, the Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney could opt to explore the trade market and dangle some of these assets and future draft picks in an attempt to improve the top of the roster immediately. If there isn’t a needle-moving forward available via the trade market, though, the Bruins should dedicate themselves to seeing what their young players can do by giving them prime playing time this season. Lysell should get a longer leash so the team can finally see what they have in him at the NHL level. Merkulov, fresh off a one-year contract extension, should be given the chance to prove himself in the NHL after shining in the AHL for a few seasons.

This could also be why the team traded for Viktor Arvidsson just ahead of the free agency period opening, adding some certainty without tying up long-term salary cap space. Arvidsson is a natural right-shot winger who should add some experience to the roster and give them middle-six minutes at the position in the final year of a two-year, $8 million contract. While Arvidsson would be best suited on the team’s third line, he could also serve as an insurance policy for the team’s second line if the young fail to make an impact. He also serves as a tradeable asset at next season’s Trade Deadline.

Flexibility is king and if the Bruins can’t find the perfect trade target, the same logic applies to good free agency strategy; don’t make a move just for the sake of making a move. None of these plans have even accounted for the team also having players like James Hagens, Will Moore, Will Zellers, Dean Letourneau and Dans Locmelis who will also be in legitimate roster consideration within the next few seasons. All of this is to say that the team needs to see what they have in their current group of young talent so they can effectively manage the logjam that exists and will only get bigger as time goes on.

As far as the blue line is concerned, the team has a pretty good idea of what their defense is going to look like with Charlie McAvoy, Hampus Lindholm, Mason Lohrei, Nikita Zadorov, Henri Jokiharju, Andrew Peeke and Michael Callahan under contract this season. Though the team just signed Jokiharju to a new three-year deal worth $9 million total, there’s no guarantee that the team doesn’t also look at upgrading that second-pairing spot on the right side this offseason or beyond.

Realistically, the team does need a legitimate top-four defender to come in and play a big role on the second pairing, but that’s a tall ask after trading away Brandon Carlo at the Trade Deadline last season. Top-four, right-shot defenders typically come at a premium and if the Bruins do make a splash, it should be to shore up their top-four on the right side, a position that’s essential and often costly.