Slated to become a group six unrestricted free agent this summer, a former first-round pick has decided to stay with the organization that drafted him. Defenseman Jakub Zboril signed a two-year contract extension with the Boston Bruins this morning, carrying a cap hit of $1.138MM per season.
Zboril, now 25, played just 10 games this season before tearing his ACL in a game against the Nashville Predators on December 2, 2021. The Czech defender played well this season in a bottom-pairing role, notching three assists in 10 games as well.
While Zboril won’t hit the ceiling the team envisioned for him when they drafted him 13th overall in 2015, he has turned into an everyday NHL player. That’s important for the cap-strapped Bruins, who now retain a reliable depth defenseman for a reasonable cap hit with some term. Per CapFriendly, though, the Bruins now have just $2.4MM in cap space entering this offseason with multiple UFAs, including captain Patrice Bergeron. With Zboril locked in now, an indication they view him as a regular next season, expect the Bruins to move on from either Matt Grzelcyk or Mike Reilly via trade. Both are left-shot defensemen who fell out of favor with the Bruins coaching staff near the end of the season.
Zboril will become an unrestricted free agent again in 2024.
Zboril is so bad. SO BAD.
Gotta dump Reilly. Gryz wasn’t great but Reilly was much worse
thought this bum requested a trade to after debrusk and shenshyen requested one
He was actually the first of the three players mentioned to request a trade… 1-2 years prior to Debrusk