Bitter Ending
With the season over and the award ceremony wrapped up, we move on to the next phase for the Bruins brain trust. I think all of us didn’t get the outcome we wanted from the Bruins, but being 60 minutes away from the Cup is all you can ask for in a season.
What a frustrating end to a promising situation, but alas I’m not here to open fresh wounds. The Bruins and the fans gotta start thinking about next season while burying that outcome at the bottom of the ocean.
First Round Pick
I am writing this very late at night where the Bruins have already made their first pick in this year’s draft. With the 30th pick the Bruins picked John Beecher, an 18 year old centremen from Elmira, NY. I am gonna start out by telling you I don’t know a lot about him other than what I’ve seen on video. I will never try and talk about a prospect or anything for that matter where I have not a solid understanding of.
What I have seen from his videos is he’s got a big frame: 6″3, 209lbs, skates very well for his size. The kid is 18 and going into the Univ of Michigan next season. Let’s give him some time to develop. They still need a right winger in this draft in my opinion, but that is up to Don and company, not what I think they need. I can assure you there is a reason why I’m writing this and not drafting players.
Summer Plans
With that out of the way let’s try and focus on what they should be looking at in free agency. The first and most obvious answer is signing Charlie McAvoy long-term. This is such a no-brainer; we should probably just move onto Brandon Carlo. Signing both of them is something that should be not questioned, but I still see people looking at just the stat sheet. Those two can be a deadly one-two punch for years to come in this organization.
The rest starts to get a little tricky for the Bruins. The two pieces that needs to be addressed is Backes’s contract and what to do it with it. I believe Don would like to move it, but who would take on that contract willingly? We hear of teams wanting to get to the ceiling of the cap, I wouldn’t plan on it though without Don eating salary with a prospect thrown in.
The other name is Krug – more importantly what will they do with him? There is a desire for him to stay along with the Bruins wanting him to stay, but is his free agency coming next season gonna factor in? With Krug’s cap number at 5.25 million courtesy of Cap Friendly he will be due a raise. The Bruins are pretty loaded with defensive prospects as well as the group they have now, so I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s moved. For the record I want him here.
There are also a few other people who need to be addressed on the team. The first being Marcus Johansson, who is set to be a UFA. The chemistry was glaring between him and Charlie Coyle, but unfortunately I think he is gone. The Bruins only have around 13.3 million in cap space. With what they have to spend on Charlie and Carlo that doesn’t leave a lot for the likes of Heinen and Acciari.
We could easily see some movement prior to free agency. The two people I could see moved is John Moore, or Kevan Miller. There is always talk it feels like with moving David Krejci. I would be shocked if that happened, but I guess you never know don’t bet on it though. What ultimately they should do in my opinion is solidify that second line who went ghost on you when it mattered most.
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Agree with a lot of what u said but Moore and Miller are needed and MJ and Accairi are needed if possible if u can dump Backes salary and Heinman is a mystery that I don’t think they can wait on . They need Moore and Miller on back end for toughness and both are skilled players I feel with those 2 healthy they would have taken the Blues out in 5or 6