Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Bruins Rumors

Bruins Sign Max Jones, Jordan Oesterle, Three Others

at CDT | by 5 Comments

The Bruins have signed winger Max Jones in free agency, the team announced. It’s a two-year deal, per Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub. He’ll earn $1MM per season, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald reports. Jones became a UFA after not receiving a qualifying offer from the Ducks yesterday. Additionally, Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub reports they’re signing veteran depth defender Jordan Oesterle to a two-year, two-way deal.

Boston later announced they’ve also signed forward Riley Tufte to a one-year contract.. They’ve also signed 28-year-old right-shot defenseman Billy Sweezey to a two-year, two-way deal with a $775K cap hit, per PuckPedia. Anderson also reports they’re signing former Lightning forward Cole Koepke to a two-way deal.

Jones showed some flashes of being an impactful power forward with Anaheim but struggled with injuries and consistency.  The 26-year-old played in 52 games last season, picking up five goals and ten assists while picking up a career-high 127 hits which wasn’t enough to earn his qualifier.  Jones will likely play a similar role with Boston as he did with the Ducks, playing an energy role in their bottom six.

Oesterle had been a full-timer on an NHL roster for six straight years before last season.  He inked a one-year deal with Calgary last summer but split the season between the Flames and AHL Wranglers.  The 32-year-old had two assists in 22 games with Calgary but was much more productive in the minors, picking up 19 points in 30 games.  Oesterle should have a chance to battle for a spot at the end of Boston’s roster in training camp but is likely ticketed for AHL Providence to start next season.

Tufte comes over after spending a year in Colorado’s system.  The 26-year-old got into five games with the Avs last season, picking up a goal and an assist.  He was one of the top scorers for the AHL Eagles, tallying 23 goals and 22 assists in 67 contests.  Standing 6’6, Tufte could get a look on Boston’s fourth line in training camp but otherwise should be in line for a big role with Providence as well.

Sweezey spent the last three seasons with Columbus, primarily playing with AHL Cleveland.  The 28-year-old got into 57 games with the Monsters last season, picking up a goal and three assists along with 73 penalty minutes and will be counted on to play a similar role on the third pairing in Providence.  Sweezey also has nine career NHL appearances under his belt, all in the 2022-23 campaign.

Koepke, meanwhile, got into nine games with the Lightning last season, picking up two assists along with 23 hits despite averaging less than seven minutes a night.  He was a capable secondary scorer at the AHL level as well, recording 20 goals and 19 assists in 53 contests.  The 26-year-old has 26 career NHL games to his credit where he has three points.  It’s expected he’ll start with Providence as well unless he lands a spot on Boston’s fourth line in the fall.

Bruins Sign Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov

at CDT | by 13 Comments

The Bruins have made two gigantic free-agent splashes. They’re bringing in center Elias Lindholm on a seven-year contract worth $7.75MM per season, Chris Johnston of The Athletic reports. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov is also signing with Boston, per TSN’s Darren Dreger. He adds it’s a six-year, $5MM AAV deal for Zadorov.

For Lindholm, it appears he didn’t lose too much market value after a difficult season offensively. The 2022 Selke Trophy finalist was likely in line for an eight-year extension valued in the $8MM-$9MM range annually had he signed while with the Flames at the beginning of last season, but with Calgary not headed in the direction of contention, he opted not to stick around long-term.

He then embarked on a difficult regular season split between Calgary and Vancouver thanks to a mid-season blockbuster deal, limited to 15 goals and 44 points in 75 games with a -14 rating. It was his worst showing on the scoresheet since 2017-18 when he was still a 23-year-old developing center with the Hurricanes.

Lindholm did well to rebuild his value in postseason action with the Canucks, though. They took the eventual Western Conference champion Oilers to seven games in Round Two, and Lindholm’s production was a big part of that. Serving in a middle-six center role behind J.T. Miller, Lindholm found his game offensively and scored five goals and five assists in 13 games.

A strong faceoff taker, Lindholm projects to slot into the Bruins’ first-line center spot and be a stylistic replacement for the retired Patrice Bergeron, although he doesn’t have the same skill level at either end compared to the future Hall-of-Fame pivot. $7.75MM per season is a steep price to pay for someone who only offered middle-six production last season, but they’re hoping it’s just a blip. Now 29, Lindholm has averaged 20 minutes per game multiple times in his career and has a lengthy recent history of anchoring strong two-way top lines.

Zadorov is also a bit of a gamble at his price tag. The 6’6″, 250-lb defender had a strong market, though, and few should be surprised at what he landed in the end. The brutish blue liner had a career-high 120 PIMs in 2023-24, coupled with 20 points and an even rating in 74 games while logging 17:26 per contest. Like Lindholm, he split the campaign between the Flames and Canucks, although they each found their way to Vancouver in separate trades.

It’s a significant chunk of change for a player who’s never spent time in a top-four role consistently, but his price tag suggests he’ll be doing that in Boston for the next half-decade. The 29-year-old could very well start next season on Boston’s top pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy as the replacement for Matt Grzelcyk, who departed for the Penguins in free agency today.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Minimal Progress On New Deal For Swayman; Bruins Linked To Lindholm And Zadorov

at CDT | by 1 Comment

With Linus Ullmark now in Ottawa, Jeremy Swayman is the Bruins’ undisputed goalie of the present and future moving forward.  However, it doesn’t appear as if much progress has been made on a new deal, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli (Twitter link).  Last summer, the two sides wound up going through salary arbitration with the netminder receiving a one-year, $3.475MM award.  This past season, the 25-year-old posted a 2.52 GAA with a .916 SV% in 44 regular season games before putting forth a better showing in the playoffs, playing to a 2.15 GAA and a .933 SV% in a dozen postseason contests.  It stands to reason that both sides would like to get a long-term agreement done; that type of deal should carry a price tag of at least $6MM.

  • Still with the Bruins, Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe suggests that they could be in position to land a pair of prominent Vancouver free agents when the market opens up on Monday, linking Boston to both center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Nikita Zadorov. Lindholm is coming off a down year but still managed 15 goals and 29 assists in 75 games.  He’d give Boston a legitimate two-way middleman after they didn’t really replace Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci last summer.  Zadorov, meanwhile, split the year between Calgary and Vancouver, notching 20 points and 177 hits in 75 games.  However, he was quite impactful in the playoffs, recording four goals and four assists in 13 contests while logging over 20 minutes a game, putting himself in a spot to land a big raise on the $3.5MM he made in 2023-24 on a long-term agreement.

Bruins Acquire Vinni Lettieri In Swap With Wild

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild have swapped depth forwards and fourth-round picks – with Boston acquiring Vinni Lettieri and Pick 110 from the Wild for Jakub Lauko and Pick 122 (Twitter link).

This move comes as much more minor than some of the day’s blockbusters. But it could stand as one of the most memorable trades of the day, with Minnesota using Pick 122 to select star Finnish defenseman Aron Kiviharju. Kiviharju was once considered a lock for the Top 10, and maybe even the Top 5, of the 2024 NHL Draft – after breaking into Finland’s Liiga at the age of 16. He vindicated the hype through his rookie season, tallying three assists in 21 games and adjusting well to the pace of a pro game. That set Kiviharju up for what many expected to be a smash season this year, though a knee injury suffered on September 30th cut his season short before it could even get underway.

Kiviharju returned to captain Team Finland at the World U-18 Championship, recording three assists in five games an looking ready to put his injury aside. But an early end to Finland’s season kept him from playing much more. He finished his draft year with two points in seven Liiga games and tons of questions swirling around him.

But while Minnesota earns a big bet on upside with this swap, the Bruins get a bit more predictability. Lettieri served a modest role on Minnesota’s fourth line last season, working his way to nine points and 24 penalty minutes in a career-high 46 appearances. He’s now up to 27 points in the first 129 games of his NHL career – though he’s shown a knack for filling the gritty roles of a bottom-line center. He moves to Boston alongside Elliott Groenewold, who the Bruins selected at Pick 110. Groenewold also boasts plenty of predictable impact – with a tall frame and long reach making him effective at engaging in, and winning, puck battles – but a lack of explosivity keeping him from ever making too much of a spark.

Boston will hope the pair can have the anticipated effects on the NHL lineup, while Minnesota is taking a home run swing while replacing Lettieri’s role with the quaint Lauko.

Bruins, Wild Among Top Suitors For Rutger McGroarty

at CDT | by 2 Comments

News broke last week that Jets 2022 first-round pick Rutger McGroarty was seeking a trade, with most assuming that a deal could come across the finish line as soon as a few days ago so Winnipeg could recoup a first-rounder in this year’s draft. It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s still a strong chance he could be moved as the first round kicks off in less than an hour.

Among the teams with significant interest are the Wild, The Athletic’s Michael Russo relays. The Bruins have also held “ongoing talks with Winnipeg regarding McGroarty, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press reported last night. McIntyre added that the Blue Jackets, Islanders and Sabres have also checked in but didn’t use as strong language to describe their interest.

Winnipeg selected McGroarty 14th overall in 2022, one pick later than the selection Minnesota holds this year (No. 13). The idea of a one-for-one swap makes sense. As for Boston, they ended up back with their own first-rounder (No. 25) after it traveled to Detroit and then Ottawa in the past 15 months, recouping it as part of the return for sending 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark to the Senators. They’d likely need to add an additional pick or an equivalent asset in the form of a roster player or prospect in order to land McGroarty.

McGroarty, 20, was one of the best players in college hockey this season. Suiting up in his sophomore campaign at the University of Michigan, he finished top ten in NCAA-wide scoring with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 36 games. He was a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in collegiate hockey and captained the United States to a gold medal at the 2024 World Juniors, scoring five goals and four assists in seven games.

But he wasn’t given a clear role on Winnipeg’s roster next season, and as such, he’s decided to return to Michigan for his junior season rather than play for their AHL affiliate in Manitoba. Of course, he could decide to turn pro after a trade and make his NHL debut for a different team in the fall.

NHL Announces 2023-24 All-Star Teams

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The NHL announced their annual season-ending All-Star teams as part of last night’s award festivities. The rosters, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are as follows.

First All-Star Team

LW: Artemi Panarin (Rangers)
C: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
RW: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
D: Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D: Roman Josi (Predators)
G: Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)

Second All-Star Team

LW: Filip Forsberg (Predators)
C: Connor McDavid (Oilers)
RW: David Pastrňák (Bruins)
D: Adam Fox (Rangers)
D: Cale Makar (Avalanche)
G: Thatcher Demko (Canucks)

The First Team nod caps off quite a successful 24 hours for MacKinnon, who also swept both media-voted and player-voted MVP honors with the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. It’s his third All-Star nod, although his two prior ones were both Second Team honors in 2018 and 2020. The 28-year-old pivot led the Avs in scoring with 51 goals and 140 points this season and recorded a league-high 405 shots on goal.

Notably, the voting ledger (available in the league’s announcement) indicates Kucherov was the unanimous First Team selection at right wing. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2002, when the Flames’ Jarome Iginla was the across-the-board pick after also winning the Richard and Art Ross trophies. Like Iginla, Kucherov was crowned this year’s Art Ross winner after recording 144 points in 81 games. He tied with McDavid for a league-leading 100 assists, becoming the first winger in NHL history to hit the mark.

Absent from either team is Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, whose 69 goals this season were the most of anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He also fell short of being a Hart Trophy finalist behind Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. He was third in All-Star voting among centers, though, and did receive nine First Team and 55 Second Team votes out of 187 ballots. The only other center to receive consideration was the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who only appeared on four ballots.

Bruins Won't Buy Out Or Flip Joonas Korpisalo

at CDT | by 7 Comments

Linus Ullmark had his first media availability today after being acquired from the Bruins by the Senators on Monday, clearing up some pre-trade rumors that had been floating around in the process. While some believed Ullmark had waived his modified no-trade clause to green-light the deal to Ottawa, he told reporters today that the Senators were never on his no-trade list (via TSN’s Claire Hanna).

  • After taking on the struggling Korpisalo from the Senators in this week’s Ullmark blockbuster, the Bruins intend to have him start next season as Jeremy Swayman’s backup, a team representative confirmed to The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa. Boston picked up Korpisalo at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28, a 25% reduction on his initial $4MM price tag. Some wondered if a buyout may be coming for the netminder who had a .890 SV% and saved 20.8 goals below average in 55 games for the Sens this year, but that isn’t in the cards.

Senators Acquire Linus Ullmark

at CDT | by 50 Comments

With Jeremy Swayman set to land what’s expected to be a significant contract as a restricted free agent this summer, it has been widely expected that the Bruins would be moving out Linus Ullmark.  That move has now happened as Ullmark has been moved to Ottawa in exchange for the 25th pick in this week’s draft, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, and forward Mark Kastelic.  Both sides have announced the swap which also sees the Senators retaining 25% of Korpisalo’s contract.

Ullmark has spent the last three seasons with Boston after signing a four-year, $20MM contract with them in free agency back in 2021.  It’s fair to say that the move worked out quite well for both sides.

After struggling with inconsistency throughout his time in Buffalo, the 30-year-old has become one of the top netminders in the NHL.  In 2022-23, he played in a platoon with Swayman but was nothing short of dominant, winning 40 of 48 starts while posting a league-best 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%.  That helped him earn his first career Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s Goalie of the Year.

Not surprisingly, those numbers dropped this season although coming off the year he had, that was to be expected.  Even so, Ullmark was still above average, putting up a 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 39 starts.  However, he was limited to just two postseason appearances (one start) with Swayman getting the bulk of the workload.

With Swayman set to command a long-term deal and having arbitration eligibility for the second year in a row, it wouldn’t have been feasible for Boston to keep both netminders in the fold.  Doing so would have made them one of the highest-spending teams on goaltenders which would have cut into their flexibility to fill some other needs this summer.

Meanwhile, from Ottawa’s standpoint, a move to shore things up between the pipes has been an annual occurrence recently with middling results at best.  Last summer, Korpisalo was brought in on a five-year, $20MM contract following a strong bounce-back year with Columbus and Los Angeles.  However, instead of turning things around in goal, he struggled considerably, posting a 3.27 GAA and a career-worst .890 SV%.  Boston will assume a $3MM cap charge on Korpisalo for the next four years while Ottawa will carry $1MM of dead cap charges for that time.  They’ll be hoping that in a better-structured system, he could put up similar numbers to the ones he put up with the Kings down the stretch in 2023, another defensive-oriented team.

Unfortunately for Ottawa, Anton Forsberg didn’t fare much better; while his GAA was a little better at a still-below-average 3.21, his save percentage also checked in at .890.  Meanwhile, their potential goalie of the future Mads Sogaard also struggled, coming up with a 4.05 GAA and a .859 SV% in his six NHL appearances.  Knowing that, many expected that they would be making another attempt to upgrade in goal this summer; Ullmark certainly represents one.  The Sens were believed to be interested in acquiring Ullmark during the season although that never came to fruition with Ottawa believed to be on Ullmark’s partial no-trade list.  Evidently, he had a change of heart to help facilitate the move.

Once July 1st comes around, Ullmark will become extension-eligible as he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract.  No informal agreement is in place yet although Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are working on getting an extension in place.  If that happens, he’d become their long-term starter with Sogaard likely getting the full-time promotion to the NHL to serve as his backup starting in 2025-26 after Forsberg’s contract comes to an end.

Meanwhile, Boston is also adding a rugged fourth liner in Kastelic.  The 25-year-old played in 63 games with the Sens this season, collecting five goals, five assists, 63 penalty minutes, and 126 hits while averaging a little less than eight minutes a night.  For his NHL career, Kastelic has 25 points and 331 hits in 144 games with Ottawa.  He’s signed through the upcoming season at a $835K cap charge and will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights at that time so he could be in their plans for a couple of years at least.  The Bruins have several pending unrestricted free agents up front so Kastelic will be taking the place of one of those players.

Boston will also get to do something they haven’t been able to do lately and that’s draft in the first round.  Assuming they hold onto the pick, this will be the first time that they picked on the opening day of the draft since 2021 when they took Fabian Lysell 21st overall.  Interestingly enough, that pick has been well-traveled.  It’s Boston’s own selection but they originally moved it for Tyler Bertuzzi at the 2023 trade deadline.  Detroit then sent it to Ottawa as part of the Alex DeBrincat trade last offseason and now it has returned to the Bruins.

The move winds up being relatively cap-neutral for both sides.  In the end, Boston saves $1.165MM with the swap, bringing their cap space for this coming summer to just under $21.6MM, per CapFriendly.  Meanwhile, the Sens are now down to $11.3MM in room, per CapFriendly.  We’ll find out in the coming days how the teams plan to spend the bulk of those funds.

Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald was the first to report that Ullmark was heading to Ottawa.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins Sign Brandon Bussi To Two-Way Extension

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Bruins announced Monday that they’ve signed depth netminder Brandon Bussi to a one-year, two-way deal covering next season. It carries a cap hit of $775K salary, and he’ll earn $225K in the minors with a $275K guarantee, per PuckPedia.

Bussi, 25, has served as their third-string netminder for the past two seasons. He’s been recalled under emergency conditions a handful of times but has yet to make his NHL debut.

An undrafted free agent signing out of Western Michigan University in 2022, the 6’4″ Bussi has provided good value for the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Providence. He was electric last season and earned AHL All-Rookie Team honors with a sparkling 22-5-4 record, .924 SV% and 2.40 GAA in 32 games, although he regressed somewhat to a .913 SV% and 2.67 GAA in 41 appearances this year. It was still a solid showing for the New York native, who’s aggressively knocking on the door for NHL time.

For now, though, he’s expected to remain in the starter’s crease for the P-Bruins to open next season. Even if the Bruins move on from Linus Ullmark via trade, they’ll likely replace his spot with a goalie coming back the other way or via a free-agent signing. A two-way extension for Bussi doesn’t exude confidence that they envision him as the backup to Jeremy Swayman entering 2024-25.

One complicating factor is that, for the first time, Bussi will require waivers to head to Providence if he doesn’t crack the NHL roster out of training camp. After a pair of strong seasons with the P-Bruins, there’s a decent chance he’d be claimed.

Bruins, Danton Heinen Have Mutual Interest In Extension

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Talks have begun in Boston on an extension for pending UFA forward Danton Heinen, who 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson writes prefers to stay with the Bruins.

It’s been quite a ride over the past 12 months for the 28-year-old, whose second stint in Boston appears to have revitalized his career. After failing to land a contract on the open market last summer, he settled for a professional tryout agreement with the Bruins that turned into a league-minimum agreement in late October after general manager Don Sweeney opened up the required cap space. He responded with 36 points in 74 games, his highest offensive output since his 47-point rookie campaign with Boston back in 2017-18.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top