Bruins with big moves to make soon

A couple of big moves in the coming months could propel the B’s next season.

By RICH SLATE / Metro Boston (May 31, 2017 edition)

Charlie McAvoy

After missing out on the NHL playoffs the past two years, the 2016-17 season for the Boston Bruins had to be considered a success since they returned to the postseason and pushed Ottawa in an extremely tight six-game first round series that featured four games that were decided in overtime.

The B’s stumbled into a new head coach in Bruce Cassidy, who was very deserving of the extension that they gave him in April. And for the first time in a while, Boston is flush with young talent headlined by right wing David Pastrnak (34 goals, 36 assists) and defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who made his NHL debut in Game 1 vs. Ottawa and never looked out of place on the top defensive pairing with captain Zdeno Chara.

The key for the Bruins is to carry over the positive developments from the second half of this past season into this summer with the expansion draft on June 21 and then as free agency begins on July 1. With some shrewd moves during what are sure to be some hectic days, Boston should solidify its place as not only a surefire playoff team in 2017-18 but one that can do some serious damage. Remember this is the wildly unpredictable NHL, where the Nashville Predators are playing in the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history – as a No. 8 seed.

As of this moment, the Bruins have a projected cap hit of $62,531,668 million with cap space of $10,468,332 million,  according to capfriendly.com. Looking at the roster that they finished with in April, they have eight free agents to address (five restricted and three unrestricted). Pastrnak is clearly going to cash in big time and the team has to have been happy to hear him state his desire to remain here long-term. Centers Noel Acciari and Tim Schaller were good fits as well so I’d expect them to return on team-friendly deals. Forward Ryan Spooner has been the subject of many trade rumors and he’s coming off a rough season so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him elsewhere. Likewise, veteran forwards Dominic Moore and Drew Stafford were solid additions, but Boston will probably replace them with younger options. It’s likley that defenseman John-Michael Liles and Joe Morrow are both gone as well.