Atlantic Division rival looking to make significant splash this summer
After setting an NHL record for points in a single season, winning the Presidents Trophy and being bounced in the first round by Stanley Cup Finalist Florida in a very shocking upset, the Boston Bruins are in limbo with a pair of veteran forwards. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci both returned to Boston last season on 1-year deals and will once again contemplate retirement this summwr. Both veterans retiring would mean that the Bruins would be left without both their 1st line and 2nd line centers.
The Bruins are also facing a cap crunch as they have a bonus overage of $4.5M and have 10 RFAs/UFAs to re-sign or replace including Trent Frederick and Jeremy Swayman, who will be due large raises. With the Bruins unsure of the future of Bergeron or Krejci, and the fact that Jets' center Mark Scheifele is available, Elliotte Friedman believes the Bruins could make an offer.
"The one team I wonder about for centers is Boston. They could have a situation next year where they don't have Bergeron, and they don't have Krejci... and I think they kind of like Scheifele's profile," said Friedman on the NHL Network this morning.
Scheifele has one year remaining on his current deal that carries a cap hit of $6.125M for the upcoming season. The 30-year-old is coming off of a 42 goal, 68 point campaign and has the type of attitude and play style the Bruins love. For the Bruins to make a Scheifele trade work though, they would have to include a player or two off of their current roster to be able to fit Scheifele's cap hit, even if the Jets were to retain a portion of it. As the draft nears, we should begin to see lots of movement with a handful of players wanting out of their current teams and a number of contending teams finally having some cap space to work with.
