NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins – First Round, Re-tool, and Free Agents

The Bruins tried to get back into the first round

Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now: Sources say that Boston Bruins were trying to get back into the first-round but asking price was to high for them.

“They’ve been trying,” one NHL executive source told Boston Hockey Now mid-way through the first round. “I heard Ullmark and Swayman were talked about, but they’re not trading Swayman, and they don’t have much else to offer.”

GM Don Sweeney confirmed they were looking to see if they could get back into the first.

Just under $11 million for eight players

Ty Anderson: The Bruins have around $10.9 million in projected cap space for seven forwards and a goaltender. That works out to an average of $1.3 per player.

A bit of retool for the Boston Bruins coming?

Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com: The Boston Bruins don’t know if they’ll be without Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci next year, but they’ll have their cap overages. They are aware their roster has issues and there will be some changes. President Cam Neely.

“Centers, I mean, you know as you see your roster aging and aging, you know that’s a position of need for the organization. That’s been apparent for us for a number of years.

“I kind of equate what’s going on now to 2015 when we did a bit of a retool and just, unfortunately, missed the playoffs. It was a retool, but not a complete teardown. Unfortunately, we had to move Taylor for cap reasons, but we like the top part of our lineup. We’ve just got to fill in around the edges a bit.”

No high-end UFAs free agents for the Bruins

Kevin Paul Dupont: Bruins GM Don Sweeney said that they likely won’t be in the high-end free agent market.

“But we are going to find some guys who can slot in and bring a boost to our hockey club in different ways.”

Joe Haggerty: Unless the Bruins move out more salary, they likely won’t be able to re-sign Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov or Garnet Hathaway. Sweeney said they’ll have enough to re-sign RFAs Trent Frederic and Jeremy Swayman and some bargain free agents.