Boston Bruins Trade Deadline V.1

It might be a win-win - I think the Sens would be able to sell that return, the B's pipeline is fairly full and could give up a low first rounder this year. Hoffman is a great shooter and fast - I'd be very interested to see him playing with the B's. I don't think anything less is going to get Hoffman out of Ottawa.

My only worry is the cap hit going forward as the salaries on all the young players starts going up.

I'd like to work off this post and see how the cap hit could potentially be down the road. I didn't get a notification that you posted on this. Then it got bumped down due to a user spam posting every team's lineup.

Anyone else who sees this want to chime in? @ON3M4N @Gofnut999 seeing you two are the ones who usually comment on Bruins posts and have a clue?

I don't know that I'm too concerned cap wise if we made this deal.

Next year the cap is rumored to be has high as $80 million. If that's the case the team has about a $15.5 million cushion with the following players to sign...

UFA's
Nash
Schaller
Chara
Dobby

Of these guys, I'm really only confident that Chara comes back. I think the other 3 could get offers from other teams for more money and bigger roles.

RFA's
Kuraly
Vatrano
Grzelyck

None of those guys should command big contract. I'd almost say that I expect Vatrano to be moved out. He's getting no time now and with the talent coming behind him, I don't see him beating anyone out. So to recap we'll have around $15.5 million (assuming $80 cap) with the biggest need being Chara and a back-up goalie. To re-sign everyone (minus Vatrano) you're looking at $8 to $10 million, still leaving a $5+ million cushion. This of course doesn't even take into consideration the potential of buying out Beleskey, which would save another roughly $3 million.

As for the season after, it could get interesting. Lets say the cap only goes up $2 million and you're at $82 million. Boston currently would have say $67 million committed leaving $15 million to sign:

McAvoy
Carlo
JFK
Heinen
Cehlarik
Acciari
McQuaid

^at this point McQuaid is probably out and Acciari could be gone too. It could be tight and someone may have to take a bridge deal (Carlo/JFK). Its doable though.

I agree with ON3M4N on this. This season and the offseason is pretty smooth sailing. Of tbe UFAs Chara will be the priorty but will likely looking at a paycut. Nash and Schaller will be given offers to stay but wth our depth they likely won’t be much of an increase which means they will likely sign elsewhere. Dobby is all but gone. I doubt he get’s a chance to start but he could get the chance to spilt time somewhere, islanders or coyotes maybe. Weak year for goalies on the FA market will push his value up as well. With no major holes to fill B’s won’t be active on name brand FA’s so the cap isn’t a worry. There isn’t much in the way of contracts to dump yet either. Beleskey and McQuaid would be about it. RFAs won’t have much leverage. Agree they will let Vatrano walk. It’s the following year that is when it gets dicey with CMac, Carlo, Heinen, jfk, cehlarik, acciari all coming due. There will be ways to deal with it if need be. Krejci will have to list half the league that he can be traded to and with, JFK. Frederic, Donato, Studnicka in the system there would be options if it came to that. All depends on where the cap ceiling lands really. It is certainly doable.

My question would be - Do we want to? Spooner playing pretty damn well right now. Is the difference between Spooner and Hoffman a 1st and Zboril? A month ago it was a simple hell yes. Now......maybe? Pretty similar type players, smaller, fast, get lost on D at times. Spooner actually has a higher PPG this year, not by much and fueled by an unsustainable hot streak. Can we swing it...yes. Should we? I don’t know. I think it’s a little pricey.

Would they better off using a similar package for OEL and bringing Bjork/Cehlarik back to fill in for Spooner? Can Nash continue to thrive as 3rd line center or should they be looking to upgrade that slot.

Luckily we are in great position both now and in the future. I hope they hold steadfast with the idea of not trading away the youth. I don’t mind one going to increase the now. A LHD like Zboril would make sense. With Lauzon, Lindgren, Urho V. behind him they can take the hit there.

The value is probably fair, but I think we should be more interested in defensive help this season than a forward upgrade. I like how Spooner is playing and I also think Bjork or Cehlarik could be great at the end of the year if an injury were to occur. I'd also rather keep our 1st round picks and not start using Chiarelli's thought process dealing them at the deadline like it's mandatory to win a round.

As for the cap hit: It'd be tight. Probably going to have a hard time adding anyone the next 2 seasons, so this is basically your one big move. If you think this is the right time to do it then that's your opinion, but I'd be thinking it would be better to stay patient for now and see where we are in a year or two. Can't tell yet if we go backwards next season, but I'd be hoping we are on the way up and would be more prepared to win a cup that season.