Boston Bruins Re-Sign Sean Kuraly To Three-Year Deal
The Boston Bruins have announced the signing of restricted free agent Sean Kuraly to a three-year contract that will carry a cap hit of $1.275MM. Kuraly was given a qualifying offer last week and was eligible for arbitration, but will instead re-sign for the next three seasons. The team also formally announced the one-year two-way contract for Anton Blidh, which will carry a $650K cap hit in the NHL.
Kuraly, 25, played his first full season for the Bruins in 2017-18, recording 14 points in 75 games. Though that offensive output isn’t very inspiring, Kuraly did provide a reliable physical presence at the fourth-line center position and chipped in on the penalty kill. His possession numbers are skewed by the fact that Bruce Cassidy used him in an almost exclusively defensive role, giving him more than 70% of his zone starts in his own end. For such a tough role Kuraly actually performed admirably, something he’ll likely be asked to do again next season.
After losing Riley Nash in free agency, the Bruins needed to keep the rest of their center depth in tact this summer and signing Kuraly is a big part of that since the team only signed Chris Wagner to replenish the position. It’s not clear how the lines will shake out, or if some of Boston’s young players will make the roster, but at this point Kuraly seems locked in for somewhere between 12-14 minutes a night while taking plenty of defensive draws for the Bruins in 2018-19.
Bruins Re-Sign Anton Blidh To One-Year Deal
- The Bruins have re-signed winger Anton Blidh to a one-year, two-way contract, reports TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). The deal is worth the league minimum $650K at the NHL level. The 23-year-old suited up once with Boston last season but spent the majority of the year in the minors where he collected 11 goals and 15 assists in 71 games.
Bruins Sign Mark McNeill And Cody Goloubef
The Boston Bruins have addressed the right side depth of their AHL roster, signing winger Mark McNeill and defenseman Cody Goloubef. TSN’s Brennan Klak reports that the pair of veteran minor leaguers signed matching one-year, two-way contracts worth the minimum $650K at the NHL level.
More to come…
Tim Schaller Signs With Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks have added some bottom-six players in Antoine Roussel and Jay Beagle already, and now will continue that trend with a deal for Tim Schaller. The former Boston Bruins forward has inked a two-year, $3.8MM contract with the Canucks. GM Jim Benning released a statement regarding his newest forward:
Tim adds size to our forward group and can play throughout our line-up. He’s responsible defensively and last year showed he can make regular offensive contributions as well. We’re excited to welcome him to the Vancouver Canucks.
Schaller provides the Canucks with both size (he’s 6-foot-2, 210 pounds) and penalty killing skills as he led all Bruins in short-handed time on the ice. While he’s versatile, he primarily played left wing for the Bruins on their fourth line, but has the versatility to move to center if needed. Schaller signed a two-year deal with the Boston Bruins last season and thrived there, most especially this season when he played in all 82 games this season, totaling a career-high 12 goals and 22 points.
Boston Bruins Sign John Moore To Five-Year Contract
The Boston Bruins have found their defenseman, signing John Moore to a five-year, $13.75MM contract according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. Moore is coming off a three-year $5MM contract and was an unrestricted free agent for the first time.
Boston had been after a defenseman for some time, trying to give themselves some depth and balance on the blue line. While this does help the depth of their group, it’s not clear what role Moore will carve out for himself. As a left-handed defenseman, he slots in behind Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug and would be battling with the recently re-signed Matt Grzelcyk for playing time. That is of course unless someone moves over, but the early speculation immediately went to Krug’s future with the club. Moore can carry the puck has a good shot and could be a useful piece for the Bruins powerplay, a role that Krug currently occupies.
The 27-year old Moore has certainly not has as much success offensively as Krug, but recently topped 20 minutes a night with the New Jersey Devils and will offer the Bruins some long-term stability on the left side. His five-year deal is much longer than we at PHR expected when ranking him 21st on our Top 50 UFA List, but the $2.75MM AAV is close to our $2.83MM estimate. It’s a reasonable cap hit for a player of his quality, and doesn’t pose a lot of risk at such a relatively low cap hit. Even if Moore fails to live up to expectations, it can’t cripple the Bruins’ salary structure. Moore becomes the only Boston defenseman signed past the 2019-20 season, giving them plenty of options on how to build the blue line going forward.
Blue Jackets Sign Defenseman Tommy Cross
The Columbus Blue Jackets are bringing in a familiar face in former USHL Junior Blue Jackets player Tommy Cross. The 28-year-old defenseman, a long-time Boston Bruins depth player, is also a good friend of Cam Atkinson from the pair’s time at Boston College. TSN’s Frank Servalli reports that it is a two-way deal for Cross, paying him the minimum $650K at the NHL level.
The 28-year-old has shown off his offensive game over the past couple of years with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. In two seasons, he’s combined for 20 goals and 71 points. However, the blueliner has not had any success cracking the Bruins lineup, even with the team’s rash of injuries in the last couple of years. He hasn’t appeared in a regular season game in two years, although he did make an appearance in a Bruins’ playoff game in the 2016-17 season.
The two-way deal should allow Cross to play a major role for the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters and would have to challenge both Dean Kukan and Markus Nutivaara for playing time at the NHL level.
Vegas Signs Nick Holden To Two-Year Deal
The Vegas Golden Knights are adding a reliable body to the blue line, reportedly adding defenseman Nick Holden. While the team has yet to officially announce the deal, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Holden will sign for two years at $4.4MM, with an AAV of just over $2MM. The Golden Knights outbid the Boston Bruins who trying to keep him in the fold.
Holden provides the Golden Knights depth after the team parted ways from Luca Sbisa and a two-year deal keeps the team nice and short, which is what the Golden Knights were able to do with center Paul Stastny, who signed a three-year pact. Holden provides Vegas with a veteran defensive presence, but his best attribute is his size as he stands 6-foot-4.
Holden spent the last two years with the New York Rangers, but was traded at the deadline for a third-round pick and a lower-tier prospect to the Boston Bruins. However, the 31-year-old blueliner’s game is starting to decline as his numbers dropped from a year ago. After an 11 goal and 34 point season in 2016-17, he finished with four goals and 17 points between the two teams this season.
Boston Bruins Sign Joakim Nordstrom
The Boston Bruins have signed Joakim Nordstrom to a two-year contract worth $2MM total. Nordstrom became an unrestricted free agent when the Carolina Hurricanes failed to qualify him last week.
Nordstrom played the past three years with Carolina, but failed to impress as he scored just two goals in 75 games last year, which is down from 10 goals in the 2015-16 season and seven the year after that. However, a change of scenery could be good thing for Nordstrom.
The 26-year-old should be able to provide solid bottom-line depth for the Bruins as he is versatile forward, who can play both center and wing. That might be essential as the team has lost Tim Schaller to Vancouver and could also lose Riley Nash and Boston may be forced to rebuild their bottom-six lines.
Free Agent Notes: Holden, Ellis, Namestnikov, Wilson
The Vegas Golden Knights already surprised a few when they reached out and stole Paul Stastny away from Western Conference rival Winnipeg. However, the Golden Knights are apparently not done as The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Vegas is the front-runner for unrestricted free agent defenseman Nick Holden.
Holden, who spent time with both the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins last season, would be a solid depth defenseman that could add to Vegas’ core. he averaged 19:00 ATOI between both clubs, but only posted four goals and 17 points on the year. However, the 31-year-old may be starting to show a decline in skills as he was a 34-point player in 2016-17 with the Rangers.
Incidentally, Holden is being pursued by two teams as the Boston Bruins are also vying for the blueliner’s services, according to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector. The Bruins, after all, gave up a third-round pick and low-end prospect Rob O’Gara at the deadline.
- LeBrun also mentions that while Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis, who will be a unrestricted free agent in one year, can sign an extension as of today. However, the scribe writes that Nashville isn’t there yet. They intend to reignite talks with Ellis and his representatives within the next one to two weeks. Nashville wants to keep Ellis in the fold at all costs as the team has put major emphasis on having a dominant four defense. The team already has P.K. Subban ($9MM AAV) and Mattias Ekholm ($3.75MM AAV) locked up for four years, while Roman Josi ($4MM AAV) is signed for another two years.
- The New York Rangers can breathe easier after the agent for restricted free agent Vladislav Namestnikov, Dan Milstein, refuted rumors that the forward was leaving for the KHL. Namestnikov, who was acquired from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline, but saw his playing time drop once he arrived in New York. After averaging 17:30 of ATOI as a Lightning, his playing time dropped to 15:43, along with his offensive production. After potting 20 goals with Tampa Bay, he managed just four points in 19 games with the Rangers. However, Milstein insists the rumors are not true and that Namestnikov believes playing in the NHL is a privilege and honor and an extension is in the works with the New York Rangers.
- Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News reports the Buffalo Sabres are currently working on re-signing winger Scott Wilson. The 26-year-old was picked up in a December trade this last season from the Detroit Red Wings and played a regular role as a bottom-six forward. After not scoring a point in 17 games with Detroit, he tallied six goals and 14 points in 49 games in Buffalo.
Bruins To Sign Jaroslav Halak
After failing to agree to terms on a new deal with Anton Khudobin (who is expected to sign with Dallas), the Bruins have found their new backup goaltender. Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports (Twitter link) that Boston will sign veteran netminder Jaroslav Halak. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
It has been a bit of a tumultuous ride for Halak in recent years. In his first season with the Islanders, he was a capable starter and looked to be providing good value on his contract that paid him an average of $4.5MM per year. But then New York brought in Thomas Greiss, who wound up platooning with him in 2015-16 and eventually wrestled away the number one job in the postseason.
Things got worse the following season as Halak struggled out of the game and wound up clearing waivers that resulted in a lengthy minor league stint. He played quite well with AHL Bridgeport and earned a recall later in the year where he went on a nice run to finish, winning six of seven starts down the stretch. That didn’t carry over to last season, however. Although he managed to win back the starting role, he struggled overall on the year, posting a 3.19 GAA and a .908 SV% in 54 appearances, numbers that were below the league average.
The Bruins are banking on Halak returning to form with less pressure and a better back end in front of him. At the very least, he should be able to handle more than a typical number two workload which will allow them to take some pressure off Tuukka Rask and keep him fresh as the season progresses.