If Lysell isn’t ready, you could move JDB up to line 2 (he’s only on the third line for balancing), Geekie to RW on line 3, and Boqvist in line 4. Debated starting with that option.

DuBois’s contract is not good, but we can talk about what it would take to compensate the Bruins for the excess nature of it. There is a significant upside to this trade if Sweeney believes he can get him to buy in.

Ullmark likely requires an extension. It frees up enough space for LA to sign Roy and extend Byfield to 8 years. Not sure whom the prospect is that LA adds to a 2nd to make it worth Boston’s time since they can just sign Lindholm and trade Ullmark for other considerations

there is no reason for boston to make this trade. it is absolutely horrible. it's like buying a huge share of a company in bankruptcy at top dollar.

PLD is one year removed from it costing more to acquire him. We could not have gotten him for Ullmark at the beginning of the year even if Winnipeg wasn’t on Ullmark’s no trade list.

PLD is absolutely a distressed asset with significant turnaround potential. The bankruptcy metaphor is just stupid and complete exaggeration. If he went on the open market today, he’d easily get 7 years, $6.5M AAV at a minimum.

The question is what would the asset need to be to take the premium cost on his contract. The deal has both significant upside and downside.

You’ve been critical of any player with length and term. Reality is I don’t think the player exists where you’d be OK with their cost to acquire whether it be picks or term.

Standing with $12M and no one to give it to is a great plan if you are the Blackhawks

his contract is a negative value asset. don't pay for it.

What forward can you realistically acquire that doesn’t have some level of risk?

Lindholm, PLD, Stephenson, DeBrusk, and Bertuzzi are all coming off poor years.

Toffoli, Henrique, and Stamkos are old and likely pursue Killorn type deals where you are paying for term in 34+ years.

We don’t have the draft capital to secure a player who is not in the FA-1 year type player.

well, most of those guys won't have 7x8.5 left on their ticket with huge character and effort question marks.

they also don't have to go acquire some big name for the sake of doing it. their core is in tact.

I hope they can snag Graf too that would be good for the pipeline but someone mentioned the Hawks on HF boards and i suspect that might be super appealing to him. get immediate NHL playing time and possibly get on the ice with Bedard.

Why would you willingly bring back Forbort??

My problem with Forbort has been his salary. At just under 1.5M, he’s a decent option.

So would you go after second level players in free agency to keep the cap commitment down or hold the $12M in space like the Blackhawks did?

It is basically what Sweeney did when he signed Reilly, Forbort, Haula, and Ullmark.

I do believe that he was pursuing Elias Lindholm to sign him long term, so I see that as the most likely scenario.

Not sure what to believe with the Kings rumors. They didn’t have the cap space to acquire Ullmark without a major player involved. Maybe it was Roy, but if Sweeney liked PLD before the acquisition … I could see him as a potential player

I could see the bruins as a landing spot for PLD, and I bet they've discussed it. Here's the problem, people somehow hear rumors about that and think, "oh, the bruins are going to pay for PLD!" why? why would anyone draw that conclusion? it's just so stupid. LA could be retaining. LA could be sending something along with PLD to make him more attractive. The bruins could basically say, "we think we can fix this player, and we'll take him and the contract off your hands." The one scenario that I think we can just use logic to rule out is the bruins paying to acquire PLD.

Personally, I think the core of this team is in place, and if you're going to take on a big cap hit, you better be really confident they're going to be a big impact player. Sweeney seems to operate in that way as well.

I think Sweeney is an outstanding GM whose biggest strength is he isn’t reactionary. Whatever he does seems well thought out and whomever has his ear seems to have a good feel on how a player will fit in their system.

I don’t believe he judges players based on their most recent play and considers things like fit in role. I could argue both Zacha and Peeke were acquired at low value points.

I don’t know what translates to with regards to PLD or Lindholm, but I believe he will extract the necessary value and I’m pretty confident in his assessment.

He grew up as a Junior Bruin. Not that it matters, but he’s a local kid and we have a legitimate opportunity for him to win a role next year. We lack RW options outside of Lysell. He is going to make similar money elsewhere and my guess is he’s in our top 5 prospects to start

He was barely playable for most of his tenure. Sheltered with a good partner and still wouldn't give much. Zero versatility as he can't move in the top4 or on the right side. Now, he missed 2 months last season and played injured this year just to finish with two surgeries at age 32. That's a player who should be on a PTO in September.

I thought he was good as a penalty killer but he’s always hurt and tries to play through it. That’s when his effectiveness wains. Substitute any D for 1.5M. There should be a decent amount of them after the first tier sign