Bruins, Danton Heinen Have Mutual Interest In Extension
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.
Boston Bruins Sign Ian Mitchell To One-Year Extension
The Boston Bruins will retain some of their defensive depth as the team announced a one-year, two-way contract extension for defenseman Ian Mitchell. The deal will pay Mitchell the league minimum of $775K at the NHL level in a contract that will make Mitchell arbitration-eligible next summer.
Acquired by the Bruins in a cost-cutting move last summer, Mitchell was traded with Alec Regula from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Taylor Hall and the contractual rights to Nick Foligno. Of the two, Mitchell was the only one to suit up for Boston last season as Regula spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season with the organization’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Similarly, Mitchell spent 42 games in Providence scoring six goals and 24 points from the blue line as he finished third on the team in scoring among defensemen.
Regulated to a flexible depth option in a much deeper defensive core, Mitchell played in 13 games for Boston this past season where he tallied two assists in total. Even though he saw his games played total slashed by nearly 20 after moving on from the Blackhawks, Mitchell still maintained an average of more than 15 minutes of ice time per game.
With the emergence of Mason Lohrei last season and in the playoffs, Boston should have much of their defensive core put in place heading into the 2024-25 NHL season. Due to this fact, Mitchell will likely start the season back in Providence in the same depth option role he spent in the Bruins organization last year.
Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub was the first to report the Bruins had extended Mitchell.
Could Swayman Be The Better Trade Option For Boston; Bussi Nearing New Deal
While a Linus Ullmark trade is the expected outcome when it comes to what happens with Boston’s goaltending situation, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe discusses the other possibility on the trade front. Instead of moving Ullmark and signing Jeremy Swayman to a long-term deal, perhaps extending Ullmark and moving Swayman could be the better way to go for the Bruins.
Swayman has two years of club control remaining (with arbitration eligibility) and is coming off the better year between the two plus a strong playoff showing that saw him post a 2.15 GAA and a .933 SV% in a dozen starts. His trade value would be considerably higher as a result, giving the Bruins a chance to potentially fill multiple needs, including an impact center and a defensive upgrade. At this point, it doesn’t seem likely to happen but if trade talks surrounding Ullmark stall out over extension discussions, the Bruins could certainly consider flipping the script. Considering how quickly the goalie market moves in the summer, however, it’s a decision they’d have to make rather quickly.
- Speaking of Bruins netminders, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal reports (Twitter link) that the team has made progress on a new deal for pending RFA goaltender Brandon Bussi. The 25-year-old is coming off a strong year with AHL Providence where he had a 2.67 GAA with a .913 SV% in 41 games. Depending on if Boston has to take a goalie back in the eventual trade and how they plan to use their cap space, it’s possible that he could be in line to take over the second-string duties next season despite not having yet made an appearance at the NHL level.
Latest On Potential Linus Ullmark Trade
Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times expects the Tampa Bay Lightning to make a trade in the near future to cut costs as they try to find room to sign pending free agent captain Steven Stamkos to a contract extension. The Lightning are up against the cap with just $5.335MM in cap space and have just 18 active roster players signed for next season.
Encina looks at the contracts of Tanner Jeannot and Erik Cernak as possibilities to move on from. Jeannot has struggled since coming over from Nashville for five draft picks and Callan Foote and is slated to make $2.665MM next year, while Cernak is owed $5.2MM. Jeannot seems like the likelier of the two to be moved as he has just a year left on his contract at half the cost and has already been linked to multiple teams.
In other Eastern Conference notes:
- Nick Kypreos speculates in the Toronto Star that the Toronto Maple Leafs have interest in pending free agent forward Jake DeBrusk. The 27-year-old has haunted the Maple Leafs in the playoffs could slide into the team’s top six if they don’t bring back Max Domi or Tyler Bertuzzi. DeBrusk is coming off a disappointing season with the Boston Bruins, tallying just 19 goals and 21 assists in 80 games. However, the Edmonton, Alberta native is just a year removed from a 27-goal season and has surpassed 25 goals on three separate occasions.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on 32 Thoughts that he believes that a big holdup on the Linus Ullmark trade is a potential contract extension being worked out. Friedman points out that a lot of teams aren’t interested in paying the Bruins high asking price for a goaltender that would only be a rental and would like an extension in place before making the deal. Friedman also notes that in the case of a team like the Ottawa Senators, he would have to waive his no-trade clause and likely work out an extension with the team to make the trade happen. Boston has held firm on their asking price in recent weeks but might have to adjust it as some teams that were in on Ullmark have already addressed their goaltending situation, and there are other potential available options on the market.
Senators Upping Efforts To Land Linus Ullmark
With Jacob Markstrom now in New Jersey, the Senators have stepped up their efforts to acquire Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Ullmark saw his numbers drop this year compared to his Vezina-winning 2022-23 campaign but he still posted a solid 2.57 GAA with a .915 SV% in 40 games. Those numbers would represent a significant improvement on the 3.30 and .888 that Ottawa put up as a team in 2023-24. Ullmark has one year left on his contract with a $5MM price tag and it’s worth noting that he has a 16-team no-trade clause so he does have some say in where he could ultimately be moved.
Meanwhile, Garrioch adds that the Bruins don’t have interest in taking back the final four years of Joonas Korpisalo’s contract as expected. However, with Anton Forsberg ($2.75MM) set to enter the final year of his deal next season, Boston could be amenable to taking him back, allowing the Senators to reduce the additional salary they’re taking on. That said, Garrioch notes that there is still work to be done before this possible swap has a chance of reaching the finish line.
Bruins Won't Re-Sign Oskar Steen
The Bruins won’t re-sign pending Group VI unrestricted free agent Oskar Steen, his agent Joakim Persson told Värmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg. Steen, 26, isn’t eligible for standard UFA status until 2025 but hits the open market early with less than 80 NHL games played and three or more professional seasons accumulated.
A sixth-round pick of the Bruins in 2016, Steen played in a career-high 34 games this season but managed just one goal on 24 shots. He averaged 9:04 per game and had poor possession metrics, although he was disproportionately deployed in defensive zone usage.
He ends his Bruins career with four goals and eight points in 60 games over the last four years. While he may not have turned into a regular contributor, getting even brief NHL action out of a late-round pick is good value.
The Karlstad, Sweden native, had 12 goals in 25 AHL games this year as well and will look to land a two-way contract with another club next month. Persson indicated that the Bruins have given him permission to seek other NHL fits for Steen, and it doesn’t appear he’ll be heading overseas.
Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins
The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Boston.
There were some question marks surrounding the Bruins heading into the season after they lost both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. However, they nearly won the Atlantic Division once again to bring their playoff streak to eight straight years. Boston got past Toronto in the opening round before falling to Florida in the second round. Armed with cap and roster flexibility for the first time in a while, GM Don Sweeney has a chance to reshape the roster or to keep the bulk of the core together. Here’s what should be on their to-do list in the coming weeks.
Add Impact Center
After losing their top two middlemen from the year before, the Bruins didn’t do a whole lot to replace them. Morgan Geekie came over after being non-tendered by Seattle while John Beecher and Matthew Poitras came up from the minors and the OHL respectively to largely fill the other vacancy. In the meantime, Charlie Coyle and Pavel Zacha covered the tough minutes. All things considered, they cobbled together a solution relatively well given their cap constraints.
Now they don’t have those constraints; they have over $21MM in cap room, per CapFriendly. They now have an opportunity – and a need – to try to address that. While their internal options fared well, they’re not a group of middlemen that a contender typically has.
There aren’t any true number one options on the open market this summer but there are some proven second options that can at least give them some more impactful depth. They were speculatively linked to Elias Lindholm last summer and it stands to reason they’ll have interest in someone who can cover the hard two-way minutes like Bergeron used to.
Among the secondary options are Chandler Stephenson, Sean Monahan, and Matt Duchene. All three have had success on the second line recently and have some upside at the offensive end. They might not produce more than the 60 and 59 points that Coyle and Zacha put up but a third middleman in that range would lengthen their offense and hedge against some injuries.
In theory, they could try to trade for a center but given the dearth of trade assets they have (a byproduct of going for it regularly), it’s hard to see them putting together a package that could land a top-six piece so turning to free agency should be the way they go.
Goalie Decisions
For the last couple of years, the Bruins have had a high-end goalie tandem between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, allowing them to have starting-level goaltending on a nightly basis. However, it’s about to become a luxury that’s too expensive for them to afford.
Swayman and the Bruins couldn’t agree on a contract last season, resulting in the two sides going to arbitration where he was awarded $3.475MM. Now, with another strong campaign under his belt, Swayman’s camp has a much better case this time around and will be heading for another big raise. Another one-year deal would push past the $5MM mark but it’s evident that both sides will want to get a longer-term agreement done this time around. A deal that buys multiple years of club control should cost at least $6MM while a max-term agreement probably pushes past $7MM, doubling his price from this season.
With that type of commitment to Swayman, Ullmark becomes a very expensive second option with one year and $5MM left on his deal. While they have enough cap room to carry both, that’s not necessarily the best use of their cap space with the other spots they’ll be looking to fill on their roster. That means they’ll be turning to the trade market as they had looked to back at the trade deadline when Ullmark is believed to have nixed a trade with his partial protection.
Ullmark will still have the ability to block a trade to nearly half the league this summer so it’s not a given that something will get done with Boston’s preferred option. It’s unfortunate for them that Ullmark will be in the market at a time where he’s not likely to be viewed as the number one option available and, in general, goalies don’t typically yield high-end returns too frequently. But they should find the best offer they can get in the next couple of weeks to get this taken care of before free agency opens up as they’ll then know if they were able to fill a need with the swap or, if it’s a futures-based package, if they’ll have other assets to trade to fill one of those needs.
Sweeney will also have to decide if they’ll go with rookie Brandon Bussi as the second-string option behind Swayman next season or if they want to bring in a more experienced veteran. If they don’t get a veteran to serve as the backup in the NHL, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them go after a veteran third-stringer to partner with Michael DiPietro in the minors.
Re-Sign Or Replace DeBrusk
Jake DeBrusk’s future with the Bruins has been murky for several years, going back to his trade request, extension, and the eventual rescinding of that request. But even after that time, his name was floated out as potential salary-matching ballast in hypothetical scenarios where Boston was landing a more impactful winger or help down the middle.
One way or the other, the uncertainty is coming to an end over the next couple of weeks. DeBrusk is now a pending unrestricted free agent and is one of the younger players to hit the open market next month. Accordingly, the time has come for the Bruins to decide if he’s part of their future plans which would require a long-term commitment and remove him from any trade speculation. Alternatively, he’ll be parting ways in early July and Sweeney will be on the lookout for a replacement.
The 27-year-old has reached the 40-point mark five times in his seven-year career but has only hit the 50-point plateau once back in 2022-23. Still, he’s in line for a sizable raise from the $4MM he made over the past two seasons. A long-term agreement could conceivably push past $6MM if the open market is as strong as some are making it out to be. Boston has the money to pay that if they want or they could take that offer and look at some other options on the open market.
There are a few wingers who should check in around that price point in free agency. Tyler Toffoli, Vladimir Tarasenko, and David Perron are shorter-term options if they don’t want to make a long-term commitment at that spot while Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi (someone who has some familiarity with the team already) could command longer-term agreements. Viktor Arvidsson could be a good fit as well but coming off an injury-prone year, he might want just a one-year deal to bolster his market value for 2025-26. Either way, whether it’s re-signing or replacing DeBrusk, the Bruins have a big contract to hand out on the wing.
Add Depth
Last summer, the Bruins had several roster spots to fill for cheap, resulting in a lot of short-term contracts for role players. Included among those were James van Riemsdyk, Danton Heinen, Milan Lucic, and Kevin Shattenkirk, all of whom are set to return to the open market this summer so Sweeney will likely be looking to follow a similar script this time around.
Up front, they have at least two and arguably as many as four spots to fill as Pat Maroon is also a pending UFA. They won’t necessarily be as limited in terms of having to shop for players who will accept close to the league minimum although if they are able to land an impact center and either keep or replace DeBrusk, they will have to go bargain-hunting at some point. The good news for them is that there will be plenty of players that will be in that price range. They may not all sign quickly but Sweeney should be able to fill those spots.
On the back end, with Mason Lohrei showing that he’s ready for full-time NHL duty, the acquisition of Andrew Peeke at the trade deadline, and Parker Wotherspoon holding his own, they really only have to fill one spot even with Shattenkirk, Matt Grzelcyk, and Derek Forbort all heading for the open market. As a result, they could target someone a little higher in price that could play in a fourth or fifth role. It also wouldn’t be shocking to see an extra depth defender added to battle for the seventh spot. Again, there are a lot of blueliners who fit into these buckets so they should be able to take care of this one fairly easily.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bruins Name Jay Leach Assistant Coach
Now taking his third trip through the Boston Bruins organization, Jay Leach will return to the team as an assistant coach for the 2024-25 NHL campaign. The Bruins announced the hiring of Leach this afternoon as well as the promotion of Joe Sacco as an associate coach.
Leach began his tenure in the Original Six organization in the 2003-04 season as he suited up in three games for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. Leach would not get his first taste of NHL action until 2005-06, registering two games in Boston without any points.
Over the next five years, Leach played on four additional teams before retiring as the captain of the Albany Devils after the 2013-14 AHL season. Shortly thereafter, Leach began his coaching tenure with Adler Mannheim of the DEL as an assistant coach before a brief stint in the same role with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins the following year. Ahead of the 2016-17 AHL season, Leach returned to the Bruins organization for a second stint as an assistant coach of Providence before being named the team’s head coach ahead of 2017-18.
Leach earned his first opportunity in the NHL after a four-year run in Providence in which the team produced a 136-77-26 record under the then-rookie head coach. Shortly after the inception as the league’s 32nd franchise, Leach was hired as an assistant coach by the Seattle Kraken to join Dave Hakstol‘s staff. With the Kraken looking to re-create their coaching staff after a disappointing 2023-24 season, Leach was granted the opportunity to pursue other options.
Sacco, on the other hand, is seeing a well-deserved promotion after spending the last decade as an assistant coach for the Bruins. During his tenure, Boston has made it to one Stanley Cup Final appearance while also winning two Presidents’ Trophies as the top team in the regular season.
Morning Notes: Ullmark, Saros, Bemstrom
Andrew Fantucchio of Boston Hockey Now writes that in his opinion the Boston Bruins have no reason to be in a hurry to trade goaltender Linus Ullmark as he has one year left on his deal and the Bruins could conceivably keep the netminder for the remainder of his deal. Ullmark has a lot of contractual control over where he is traded and could nix trades to nearly half of the league.
Goaltenders have been traded in recent years for a minimal return, including recent Vezina Trophy winners. However, as Fantucchio writes, the Ullmark situation is different than that of Marc-Andre Fleury who was dealt in July 2021 in what amounted to a salary cap dump. Fantucchio theorizes that if the Bruins are patient with the Ullmark trade it could drive up the asking price as teams might become desperate for goaltending as the market dries up.
In other morning notes:
- It appears that Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros is prepared to let the goaltender market develop before signing his next deal. Jonathan Bailey of Nashville Hockey Now writes that Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet made his weekly appearance on 102.5 The Game on the Caroline, Willy, and D-Mase show to discuss the future of the Predators netminder. On the show, Friedman said that Saros is willing to see what kind of a contract New York Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin signs before he signs a new contract. Shesterkin figures to sign the richest goalie contract ever, and while Saros won’t reach the same kind of money, he can likely command a large percentage of that.
- Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now writes that he doesn’t think the Pittsburgh Penguins will offer restricted free agent Emil Bemstrom a contract before the June 25th deadline to submit a qualifying offer. Bemstrom was acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and struggled to carve out a role in Pittsburgh despite the Penguins having a very poor bottom-six forward group. The 25-year-old is due a $945K qualifying offer and given the Penguins’ shortcomings it would be reckless to allocate that kind of cap space on a player that would be a 13th forward.
Bruins, Hurricanes Could Swap Linus Ullmark and Martin Necas
The Boston Bruins are continuing to garner more and more interest for their former Vezina Trophy-winning goaltender Linus Ullmark, giving them a chance to be picky about the return. That could exclude much of the league from acquiring the star netminder, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman sharing on The Jeff Marek Show that he doesn’t believe teams like the Vancouver Canucks or Montreal Canadiens have the assets to acquire Ullmark. Friedman added that the Carolina Hurricanes could be one of the few teams rich enough for the deal, especially if they involve forward Martin Necas.
Necas has been a recent addition to trade rumors, with Friedman recently sharing that the Hurricanes “prefer” to trade the pending restricted-free-agent rather than re-sign him and that they were eyeing top prospects in return. Necas, the 12th-overall pick in 2017, posted a career-high 28 goals and 71 points in 82 games last season. He succeeded it with a much more modest 53 points this year, though he still managed 24 goals. Necas has totaled 243 points across 362 career games, working his way into a regular role in Carolina’s top-six after growing pains early in his career. At just 25, Necas represents one of the best young scorers on the open market and should be poised for a long-term deal with a yearly price tag of around $7.5MM.
Adding young, secondary scoring is a big priority for the Bruins entering this off-season, giving relief to the more surprising pieces of their top-six, like Trent Frederic and Morgan Geekie. On top of his offense, Necas could also support the team’s center depth, after recording a career-high 417 faceoffs last sesaon. He won 45.1 percent of those draws, bringing his career total to 41.5 percent at the faceoff dot. That’s certainly not strong enough to warrant an everyday role at center, but it could be a welcome boost for a Bruins lineup that still hasn’t reloaded their depth chart after Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci retired. Ullmark could be a small price to check off two big boxes for Boston.
But shaping a trade package around Necas and Ullmark will be tricky. There isn’t
much precedent for swapping top-end goalies and forwards, though each of Frederik Andersen, Robin Lehner, Cory Schneider, and Semyon Varlamov were traded for first-round picks at some point in their careers. Two of those trades didn’t involve any other pieces, while the other two added a second-round pick onto the pile. That’s a bleak valuation of top goalies on the trade market, made more challenging by Necas’ RFA status making him a much more controllable asset than the 2025-UFA Ullmark. Those factors could put Carolina in a good position to ask for even more Ullmark in a swap, especially as interest in Necas grows across the league.
The Hurricanes would confidently round out their lineup with Ullmark’s addition, while moving out a winger set to command a good deal of cap space. That’d be a fantastic win-win for interim general manager Eric Tulsky, who’s in his first tenure as an NHL GM after Don Waddell left Carolina for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Carolina is also facing contract negotiations with Jake Guentzel, Teuvo Teravainen, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei this summer – surely pushing them to want an answer on Necas sooner rather than later.
Photos courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.