While it’s true the offseason for the Boston Bruins is far from over, the moves made by the team may be signaling a new direction for at least some areas on the team. Going into free agency the biggest question facing the team was what to do with Torey Krug who was about to become an unrestricted free agent. Without getting into too much detail the Bruins ultimately couldn’t agree on a deal to bring Krug back and as a result he ended up in St. Louis, signing a seven-year deal worth $6.5 million per season. Rumors swirled that the B’s offer was six years for $6.5 million per season but Krug seemed to make it sound like the team didn’t communicate with him. Whatever the story may have been, Krug ultimately walked which left the team in an interesting spot in terms of defense. To this point the B’s have not really addressed this issue in free agency as one of the only moves they’ve made on defense is giving a one year contract to Kevan Miller in hopes he can stay healthy and give the team a physical boost. The Bruins blue line for a few years now has not been much of a concern as they’ve kept the group together with players like Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk who have been very solid. Without Krug now, there are questions about how his power play production gets replaced. The Bruins did address it in a way but giving Grzelcyk a new four year contract worth $3.69 million a season and chances are he sees a lot more ice time on that first power play unit. To me personally this decision to let Krug go makes me think Don Sweeney will use this season to determine what some of the young defensemen can do with a larger roles. Players like Jeremy Lauzon, Jakub Zboril and Urho Vaakanainen will likely get opportunities in training camp and during the season to prove they can play in the NHL consistently. This probably isn’t ideal for a team that likely will try to compete for a championship next season but at a certain point the Bruins have to play their prospects and see what they are and not keep waiting to play them. It’s a big ask for these young defenders but I think with the possible return of Zdeno Chara (unsigned at the moment) it may soften the blow. Shifting gears to the forward group, some people went into the offseason thinking the Bruins needed to make a splashy move to attempt to compete with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Taylor Hall’s name was brought up quite a bit and was on the mind of Bruins fans but ultimately he decided to sign a one year deal in Buffalo to the surprise of many. I hate to break it to some fans but this forward group doesn’t need a total facelift to be successful. Instead of throwing a lot of money at certain free agents, Don Sweeney made an incredibly smart move, signing former Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith. He’s not a flashy player by any means but he has a reputation of being one of the best five on five forwards in hockey and has been a consistent 20 goal scorer throughout his career. Signing him to a three year deal worth $3.1 million per season could be one of the best deals of the offseason. One of the biggest issues that plagued the Bruins especially in the playoffs was five on five scoring, as a number of players had trouble finishing. I know it’s not a sexy move but you want to address a need and Smith fills that need. Sure the top line scores a ton five on five but the Bruins couldn’t get consistent scoring from their secondary pieces. Obviously going into next season the Bruins will need to get more out of Ondrej Kase, Anders Bjork and Jake DeBrusk (unsigned at the moment) but signing a player like Smith certainly helps. Kase is an interesting case because yes of course he didn’t score a single goal for the Bruins in the playoffs but thanks to the pandemic and him missing almost all of training camp before going to the bubble in Toronto he kind of was behind the eight ball the whole time. While he didn’t score he seemed to energize David Krejci who was statistically one of the B’s best players in the postseason. If Kase can tap into that again it’ll make the second line more dangerous and undoubtedly the goals will come too. In terms of other moves, the Bruins did bring back Karson Kuhlman to likely compete for a bottom six roster spot but the signing of Smith does kind of make that a bit more complicated. However, Kuhlman has shown the ability to play in the NHL with his willingness to throw the body around and be an aggressive puck hunter. The Bruins did lose Joakim Nordstrom to free agency as he signed a deal with Calgary but they did decide to bring in Greg McKegg on a small deal. McKegg played last season with the Rangers and has bounced around but he is a very solid fourth liner who plays with energy and he should develop quick chemistry with Sean Kuraly. It hasn’t been a perfect offseason for the Bruins but it’s also not over so don’t be surprised if they decide to do more to improve the roster. Personally I’m fairly happy with the offseason but there are still some unanswered questions that hopefully can be answered internally. By: Garrett Haydon | Follow Me On Twitter @thesportsguy97
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