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Bruins Recall John Beecher On Emergency Loan

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March 13: The Bruins have again recalled Beecher from AHL Providence on an emergency basis, GM Don Sweeney announced Wednesday. Beecher was returned to Providence yesterday after being a last-minute scratch for Monday’s 5-1 win over the Penguins. Since his initial recall was also under emergency conditions, the Bruins have retained all of their four post-deadline recalls. Today’s recall comes as winger James van Riemsdyk is absent from practice for undisclosed reasons, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald.

March 11: The Boston Bruins have recalled forward John Beecher from the minor leagues, per the AHL Transaction logs. Beecher has been in the AHL since mid-January, appearing in 17 games and scoring eight points – split evenly – with the Providence Bruins.

Beecher, 22, was a training camp surprise, making the Bruins opening roster alongside fellow rookie Matthew Poitras. He made his NHL Debut in Boston’s season-opener, recording his first penalty and his first fight. He’s since played in 39 NHL games, scoring five goals and seven points – and managing a modest 15 penalty minutes after carrying seven out of game one. He’s still searching for his scoring groove at the professional level, after managing just 23 points in 61 games as an AHL rookie last season. Though scoring has never been Beecher’s forté, with the centerman totaling 39 points in 81 games during his three years at the University of Michigan. His positives are instead more nuanced, with Beecher managing an impressive 53.9 faceoff percentage as an NHL rookie and averaging 2.23 hits-per-game.

This move spends one of Boston’s four remaining recalls and brings their roster back to a full 23. Beecher will likely serve as a depth forward, rotating in with Justin Brazeau and Marc McLaughlin. His presence is much-needed, as the Bruins currently carry forward Pat Maroon, Milan Lucic, and Poitras on their injured reserve.

Bruins Sign Drew Bavaro To One-Year Contract

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The Boston Bruins have engaged the NCAA free agent market, signing Notre Dame defenseman Drew Bavaro to a one-year entry-level contract, per Mark Divver with the New England Hockey Journal. Bavaro is signing as an undrafted free agent. Divver adds that the deal will begin next season, with Bavaro slated to join the AHL’s Providence Bruins on an amateur try-out for the rest of the season. This move comes after Notre Dame was eliminated from the postseason this weekend, after a 4-3 loss to the University of Michigan. Bavaro scored the first goal of that game, his 10th goal of the season.

This was Bavaro’s second season with the Fighting Irish, after spending his first two collegiate seasons at Bentley University. He proved effective at both schools, recording a collegiate-high 27 points in 36 games with Bentley during the 2021-22 season and totaling a combined 78 points in 124 NCAA games. He’s a very quick-moving defenseman, with sharp edgework and good all-direction speed. That helps him get involved in all three zones, and catch opponents flat-footed. But Bavaro will need to improve on consistently making the right decision with the puck and not getting pulled too far out of position. The right-shot defender spent portions of this season on the left-side, speaking to his adaptability.

Bavaro isn’t the first Notre Dame skater to sign an NHL deal, with Landon Slaggert signing his entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks quickly after the Fighting Irish’s season ended. Slaggert led Notre Dame in scoring this season, netting 20 goals and 31 points in 36 games. The Blackhawks drafted Slaggert in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He currently sits on Chicago’s NHL roster, likely to make his NHL debut soon.

Latest On Linus Ullmark

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After reports emerged yesterday that Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark nixed a trade to the Kings via his 16-team no-trade clause, GM Don Sweeney told reporters that he “wasn’t that aggressive” about moving his 2023 Vezina Trophy winner (via Matt Porter of the Boston Globe). Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear Los Angeles was the only team Sweeney spoke to about moving out half of the league’s best tandem. Multiple clubs not on Ullmark’s no-trade list engaged in discussions about the netminder and are likely to circle back over the summer, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on “Saturday Headlines.”

Ullmark, 30, will remain with the Bruins through the end of the season and the playoffs, but the likelihood of him finishing out his current deal in Boston seems to be diminishing as interest continues to rise. He carries a $5MM cap hit through next season and will be a UFA in the summer of 2025. His 16-team no-trade list will downgrade to a 15-team list on July 1.

The start counter between him and creasemate Jeremy Swayman remains relatively even, although his counterpart has a slight edge, 35-30. Ullmark’s numbers are far worse than last season’s league-leading performance, although still significantly above average with a .909 SV%, 2.77 GAA, and 9.4 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. It’s becoming clear that Swayman, among the league’s best with a .922 SV%, will be their starter to begin the postseason.

Boston needs to free up some money for what will likely be a long-term extension for Swayman over the summer. A pending RFA with arbitration rights, Sweeney would love to avoid an arbitration scenario with Swayman for a second straight year. He carries a $3.475MM cap hit this season but will command a significant raise after wrestling away the starting role from Ullmark.

The Bruins have $22.5MM in projected cap space next season with a roster size of 15, so their flexibility isn’t zero. If they want to go big-game hunting in free agency to address their deficiency at center and continuously thinning overall forward depth, though, freeing up Ullmark’s $5MM would be a wise move. They’d also capitalize on his trade value over the offseason rather than as a deadline rental next year, as teams would be willing to pay more for a full year of his services rather than a few months and a playoff run.

Lindholm Returns From Knee Injury

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  • Before their game this afternoon against Pittsburgh, the Bruins announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Hampus Lindholm was cleared to return to the lineup. The 30-year-old had missed the last nine games due to a knee injury.  Lindholm’s second full season in Boston hasn’t been anywhere near as productive as his first when he had 53 points but he still has a goal and 18 assists through 56 games while logging nearly 24 minutes a night.

Derek Forbort Placed On LTIR, Season Likely Over

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Bruins Sign Joey Abate To Two-Way Deal

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The Bruins have signed forward Joey Abate to a one-year, two-way contract for the remainder of the season, a team release states. Abate’s deal carries a cap hit and NHL salary of $775K, however, the team did not disclose his minor-league pay.

Abate lands his first NHL deal after signing on with the AHL’s Providence Bruins in 2022. At least one other team had interest in signing Abate in recent days, New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver reports.

A graduate of the University of Nebraska-Omaha program, Abate has settled into a bottom-six bruiser role on the Bruins’ farm. Since joining Providence last season, Abate has five goals, 16 points, and 166 PIMs with a -11 rating in 75 games. He’s provided a more fair amount of secondary scoring this year, posting two goals and 10 points in 40 games, although it’s still not enough to suggest the 25-year-old winger will be anything more than a fourth-line enforcer in the NHL.

The Bloomington, Illinois, native will be an RFA this summer. He’ll also have arbitration rights because he’s logged at least one season of professional experience and signed his first contract after the age of 24.

Linus Ullmark Blocked Deal To Kings With No-Trade Clause

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The Bruins reportedly had a trade in place sending 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark out of town before the deadline, but the deal was blocked by Ullmark’s 16-team no-trade list, Kevin Weekes of ESPN said on “The Point” on Friday. According to Weekes, the team was on Ullmark’s no-trade list due to “geography.” Per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, the Kings were the team close to acquiring Ullmark.

No reports have indicated what other pieces were involved in trade talks. Ullmark’s no-trade list decreases to only 15 teams next season, so it’s unlikely the Kings will be able to circle back on him before he becomes a free agent in 2025. If he was unwilling to waive a no-trade clause, it’s unlikely he’d accept an offer from them in free agency, either.

Ullmark is locked into a $5MM cap hit through next year, a bargain bin value considering his play since joining the Bruins in 2021. This year has been his worst campaign in Beantown, however. He has a 16-7-7 record, .909 SV%, 2.77 GAA, and one shutout through 30 starts and two relief appearances, more pedestrian numbers for a netminder who’s been well above average the past three years. His 5.4 goals saved above average is much closer to the level of play he displayed during his last few seasons with the Sabres – still starting-goalie caliber for most squads, but no longer on the Bruins, who have a budding star in Jeremy Swayman (.922 SV%, 21-6-8 record in 36 games).

The Swedish goalie broke out to record a league-high 40 wins, .938 SV%, 1.89 GAA, and 48.5 goals saved above average en route to a Jennings and Vezina Trophy win last year behind a record-breaking Bruins squad. His individual success had much to do with their overall record, posting one of the best seasons by any goalie in the post-lockout era.

The Kings are looking for stability in the crease, although a ragtag tandem of veterans David Rittich and Cam Talbot has performed well enough to keep them solidly in playoff contention despite some wild swings this year. Neither is signed past this season, however, and their pipeline is thin outside of top AHL rookie Erik Portillo.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Bruins Acquire Andrew Peeke

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The Bruins have acquired defenseman Andrew Peeke from the Blue Jackets, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports. Columbus is acquiring 2015 first-round pick Jakub Zbořil in return, per TSN’s Bob McKenzie. Boston has also sent a 2027 third-round pick to Columbus in the swap, per an official release.

With the attachment of a third-round pick, Boston is placing clear trust in Peeke to slot into a solid role on their blue-line. The 25-year-old defenseman has operated in a fairly limited role this season, averaging just over 15 minutes of ice time across 23 games. He’s scored one goal and eight points in that stretch. While he’s seen a decreased role this year, Peeke is no stranger to serving on a top pair, averaging over 21 minutes of ice time in each of the last two seasons. Standing at 6’3″ and 210 lbs, Peeke has established himself as a hefty, physical defender capable of shutting down opponents in his own end. He made his NHL debut in the 2019-20 season but more formally played his first season in 2021-22, scoring two goals and 15 points in 82 games with Columbus. The Blue Jackets drafted Peeke in the second round of the 2016 NHL Draft.

In return, Columbus receives Jakub Zboril – a player that’s earned infamy after getting drafted 13th-overall in the 2015 NHL Draft, a part of Boston’s three consecutive picks along with Jake DeBrusk and Zachary Senyshyn. The trio was immediately followed by the selection of Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot. Zboril has since struggled to find a groove in North American pros, recording just one goal and 16 points across 76 career NHL games and 66 points in 213 AHL games. That includes the nine assists he’s managed in 31 AHL games this season, though he’s still searching for his first goal of the year. Zboril has scored one goal across the last four seasons. He now moves to a new club for the first time in his career, hoping that a change of scenery will also bring newfound production.

Bruins Acquire Pat Maroon, Reassign Marc McLaughlin

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12:31 p.m.: The deal is now official, per the Wild. They’re also receiving minor-league forward Luke Toporowski from the Bruins in the swap. The 2026 sixth-rounder will transfer to Minnesota if Maroon plays in at least one playoff game for the Bruins in 2024, per CapFriendly.

11:32 a.m.: McLaughlin has been assigned to Providence, per PuckPedia. The move clears his $775K cap hit and makes the Bruins cap-compliant ahead of the Maroon trade call.

10:40 a.m.: The Bruins are acquiring veteran winger Pat Maroon from the Wild for a conditional late-round pick, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo. The conditional pick is a sixth-rounder in 2026, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.

Maroon was on injured reserve after undergoing back surgery early last month. He’s just entered his four-to-six-week return timeframe, so while he won’t debut for Boston immediately, he won’t be out of the lineup for too much longer. Russo reported this morning that Maroon and Connor Dewar were both drawing trade interest.

The 35-year-old has settled into a comfortable fourth-line role in the later stages of his career, recording four goals and 16 points in 48 games with the Wild before landing on IR. The bruising power winger led all NHLers in PIMs last season with 150 and made four consecutive Stanley Cup Finals over a four-year run from 2019 to 2022 with the Blues and Lightning. He wrapped up his four-year stint in Tampa last summer as the second year of his $1MM cap-hit deal was traded to Minnesota for a seventh-round pick with 20% retention.

As such, Maroon will carry a slightly reduced cap hit of $800K for the Bruins. Minnesota is not expected to retain salary in this transaction.

With three Stanley Cup rings and nearly 800 games of NHL experience, Maroon provides Boston with a veteran fourth-line presence that they were sorely lacking. Jesper Boqvist, Justin Brazeau, and Jakub Lauko were staffing the Bruins’ bottom forward unit, all averaging less than 11 minutes per game. Maroon can shoulder a bit more ice time – he averaged nearly 13 per game with the Wild – and carries any intangible that a playoff contender could want.

The Bruins must assign one player to the minors to remain cap-compliant after this trade. They had only $57.5K in cap space, so one of Brazeau or Marc McLaughlin, neither of whom requires waivers, will likely be assigned to AHL Providence.

Bruins Extend Parker Wotherspoon

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The Bruins have signed defenseman Parker Wotherspoon to a one-year, $800K extension, per Darren Dreger of TSN.

Wotherspoon, 26, has played in a career-high 32 games this season, recording six assists and a +5 rating while averaging 17:58 per outing. He’s been a frugal free-agent pickup for GM Don Sweeney, who signed Wotherspoon to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$450K AHL) when he reached Group VI status last summer.

His ice time has steadily increased as the season progresses, logging some significant penalty-kill time with veteran Derek Forbort battling injuries and inconsistent play. He’s been passable on special teams and at even strength, where he’s recorded a solid 46.7 CF% and 51.3 xGF% in extreme defensive-zone usage.

A fourth-round pick of the Islanders in 2015, Wotherspoon spent parts of eight seasons with their AHL affiliate in Bridgeport before making his NHL debut last season. He was solid in a 12-game stint, recording an assist and a +5 rating, but the Islanders opted not to re-sign him and let him reach free agency.

Wotherspoon was set to be an RFA with arbitration rights this summer. This will be the first one-way contract of his career.

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