Rumors III: Offseason Priorities For The Bruins

1. Sign Dougie Hamilton before July 1st – the Oilers or Sabres are two teams that could offer sheet Hamilton.2. Make a decision on Milan Lucic – need to decide whether to trade him, looking to sign him to an extension or just ride out his last season and let him walk away at the end of next season when his contract expires.

3. Need to get younger, faster and better on defense – they also need another big, strong, rugged blueliner that can play big minutes, has a physical element and has some offense aspect to his game. He also still needs to be in his prime.  Basically they need another Johnny Boychuk. Would only come through a trade, and needs to be at the top of Sweeney’s shopping list.

4. Trade away the “soft” element – Loui Eriksson is in the final year of his deal and should have some value. Reilly Smith could fill in their top-six if they trade Lucic and Eriksson, or he could be moved. They need to find forwards with speed, explosiveness, toughness and attitude.

5. Find a backup goalie they trust – at an affordable price to play 15-20 games.

6. Remake their fourth line – Max Talbot will be apart of the line. Brian Ferlin will get a look. The line shouldn’t have a player making over $1 million.

7. Make sure there are spots for David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner and that they can play together.

8. Top-line right winger is a spot that should still be looked at – Brett Connolly might be the answer, or maybe Pastrnak. Might be smart to try and find someone with size, strength and scoring if possible.

“All of our players have to understand that the four teams playing this week all have different attributes of skill, size, speed, and grit,” Sweeney said Wednesday at TD Garden. “But they have a sacrifice level that it takes to win in the playoffs. You have to have a blend of that to get there. We have to have more aggression in our game.”

Sweeney would also like some salary cap flexibility. They already have about $60 million committed to next season and need to re-sign Dougie Hamilton, Brett Connolly and Ryan Spooner, as well as finding a backup goalie. Trading Milan Lucic may give the Bruins some breathing room. But, no power forward can bring what Lucic does when he’s on his game. Issue is when he’s not on, which was the case last season. Lucic will be a UFA after next season, and one agent predicted that his asking price could be as much as $8 million. Lucic has been in the NHL since he was 19 years old, and has a lot of mileage playing a demanding role. A three-year deal may be ideal for him, but a team that is desperate for a power forward may go longer. The Bruins could look to move him for assets, as well as clearing some cap space. Lucic has a no-trade clause. The Bruins could use some young, fresh legs.

“It all starts with No. 17,” said an NHL source. “They’ve got to listen on what they could get for him.”

1. Determine Claude Julien’s future2. Prepare for the combine and draft

3. Gauge the trade market for Milan Lucic

4. Re-sign Dougie Hamilton

5. Acquire a backup goalie

“From a staff standpoint, there’s a bit of a shift that needs to come — from our transition game and from our ability to create anxiety in other teams. I think we, at times, had a retreat mentality. You can be the best defensive team in the National Hockey League, and all four teams playing — as I referenced earlier — are very good teams,” said Sweeney. “They suppress what we call shot value and scoring opportunities very, very well. Their goaltenders are a big part of it. We have a very good goaltender.

“But if you don’t create anxiety in the other team and have the ability to score goals in a timely fashion, or generate quality chances, then you’re going to find yourself chasing the game. This year we chased the game too much. We were behind in third periods, we didn’t score enough third period goals as to what we normally have in the past, and there are reasons for that.”