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Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Taylor Hall

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The Boston Bruins needed to clear some cap space and found a willing participant in the Chicago Blackhawks. The two have agreed on a four-player trade that includes Taylor Hall. The full deal is as follows:

The Bruins will not retain any salary in the deal.

Hall, 31, signed a four-year $24MM contract with the Bruins in 2021 but will last just two seasons before joining the sixth NHL team of his career. The deal does include a 16-team no-trade clause (that drops to 10 teams in a few days) but Chris Johnston of North Star Bets reports that Chicago was not one of the blocked destinations, meaning Boston did not need his approval.

Hall’s $6MM cap hit is not a huge overpayment, as he is still a fine middle-six winger, but the Bruins found themselves in a precarious situation with just a few days before free agency opens. They are interested in bringing back trade deadline acquisition Tyler Bertuzzi, but needed to clear cap before working out any deal. It will be interesting to see if they can close the gap and keep Bertuzzi in the fold once Hall is officially off the books.

After being a part of the best regular season team in history, moving to Chicago is a significant downgrade for Hall. He isn’t joining an organization completely bereft of talent, though—he may even get to play with Connor Bedard, depending on how things shake out.

There is, of course, the possibility that the Blackhawks flip the 2018 Hart Trophy winner as they continue their rebuild. Two years of Hall isn’t going to do a ton for their Stanley Cup chances, and perhaps retaining some salary could mean even more assets for the Bedard-led club a few years from now.

Foligno’s inclusion is interesting, given he is a pending unrestricted free agent. Perhaps he will join the Blackhawks on a new deal to help lend some veteran leadership to the young group. The veteran forward is set to turn 36 in October but had a bounce-back season this year with 26 points in 60 games.

In terms of return for the Bruins, it’s really about the cap space. Mitchell and Regula are both fringe NHLers, who may have missed their window of real potential. Perhaps the Bruins see enough in one or both of them to make them a roster regular next season, but the young defensemen may again be destined for the minor leagues.

Mitchell, 24, played 35 games for the Blackhawks this season, registering one goal and eight points. The 2017 second-round pick has just 82 NHL games under his belt to this point, and is arbitration eligible as an RFA this summer. Interestingly, he does have a connection to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, who recruited and coached Mitchell at the University of Denver for one season.

Meanwhile, Regula is still just 22 but barely has any NHL experience. He saw just four games with the Blackhawks this season and has suited up 22 times in his career, registering a single point. Selected in the second round of the 2018 draft by the Detroit Red Wings, he is not yet eligible for arbitration.

At the very worst, the defenders could stretch out the depth chart for the Bruins, giving them valuable options to turn to in case of injury or poor performance next season.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first broke the news that Hall was headed to the Blackhawks. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported the full deal.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Boston Bruins Extend Brandon Bussi

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The Boston Bruins have announced that they have re-signed netminder Brandon Bussi to a one-year, two-way contract extension. Per the announcement, the deal has a cap hit of $775,000.

According to CapFriendly, the contract has an AHL salary of $100,000 and contains total guarantees of $140,000.

Bussi is a fast-rising young goalie who was recently named to the AHL’s All-Rookie team after an exceptional first season as the leader of a three-person goalie group with the Providence Bruins.

Now 24, Bussi was originally a signing by the Bruins last March. He inked a one-year entry-level deal at an $825k cap hit, plucked from the college ranks after a strong final season at Western Michigan University.

He started all of Western Michigan’s games in 2021-22 and went 26-12-1 with a .912 save percentage. After leaving college he got an early taste of pro action with AHL Providence near the end of 2021-22 on an ATO, and went 3-2 with a .920 save percentage in five games. He actually began this year at the ECHL level as the Bruins already had Kyle Keyser and veteran Keith Kinkaid entrenched as Providence’s goalie tandem.

But Bussi quickly proved himself to be overqualified for the ECHL, immediately stopping 75 out of 80 shots in his first two starts. He earned a call-up in November and didn’t look back. He went 22-5-4 in the AHL with a .924 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against-average.

While NHL opportunities might be difficult to come by in Boston as the Bruins already have Vezina Trophy frontrunner Linus Ullmark and the talented Jeremy Swayman in their crease. But another brilliant AHL campaign could see Bussi be a player of interest for other clubs and a potential trade asset for the Bruins, or could even force the team to choose between Ullmark and Swayman in order to provide Bussi with the chance to become a part of an NHL tandem.

In any case, he now has his contract for next season and will likely pair with Keyser as Providence’s goalie tandem for next season.

Offseason Checklist: Boston Bruins

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The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams that still have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup.  It’s time to examine what those eliminated squads will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Boston.

It was an all-in year for the Bruins as they structured some contracts to buy them more flexibility this year at a high cost for next season.  That flexibility allowed them to make two significant additions at the trade deadline, setting the Presidents’ Trophy-winning club up for what they thought would be a long playoff run.  Instead, they weren’t able to pick up the final victory of their first-round series against Florida, providing an early exit and questions about what comes next.  If GM Don Sweeney intends to keep this team in contention, he’ll have some work to do in the coming weeks.

Create Cap Space

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.  The Bruins are carrying over a significant bonus overage penalty into next season from the bonus-laden deals they handed Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci last summer.  David Pastrnak’s AAV jumped up by more than $4.5MM while Pavel Zacha added $1.25MM on his new deal compared to 2022-23.

What’s the end result of this?  They have over $78.5MM in commitments for next season already, per CapFriendly, and that’s with at least six roster spots needing to be filled.  If all of those players signed for the minimum, they could squeak by from a cap perspective.  However, one of their restricted free agents alone could basically gobble up the less than $5MM in space they have left.

As a result, Sweeney is going to have to find ways to clear up space and might need to move multiple players to do so.  We’ll look at some of those options throughout this article but if there isn’t a move to be made with some of those players, they’ll have to look at moving other pieces out.  They simply don’t have a choice, Boston has to free up money in the next few weeks.

Goaltending Decisions

Lost in the fact that Linus Ullmark had quite the season in goal for Boston was the fact that Jeremy Swayman also had a very strong year as well, improving upon his numbers from 2021-22.  Frankly, that might be underselling it as he finished fourth in the NHL in both GAA (2.27) and SV% (.920).  That’s a nice way to head into his first trip through restricted free agency.  To make matters better for him, the 24-year-old is also eligible for salary arbitration.

The market for second contracts for young goalies without a lot of NHL experience has shot up in recent years.  Carter Hart received three years at $3.979MM after just 101 games.  Jake Oettinger received three years at $4MM after only 77 regular season games (plus a strong showing in the 2022 playoffs).  Spencer Knight received three years with a $4.5MM AAV after only 36 games played.  Oettinger and Knight’s contracts were signed within the last year so these are recent comparables to work with.  On top of things, it’s also worth pointing out that Swayman’s career numbers are better than what any of these three had at the time they signed their bridge contracts.

Those three contracts should give Sweeney a good idea of what Swayman will cost on his next contract.  Basically, all their cap space, give or take a few hundred thousand.  Can Boston afford that?  Not really as things stand.

As a result, there are some decisions to be made.  When determining who to trim from the roster to create cap space for, is it worth doing it to maintain an elite tandem with Ullmark, even though it would cost around $10MM for the two of them?  Considering that top goaltending can help overcome some offensive challenges, there’s certainly a case to be made that doing so would be wise.

But if the answer to that question is no, then the question becomes who moves?  It’d be hard to move on from Ullmark, the likely Vezina Trophy winner.  He’ll turn 30 late last month so is he their goalie of the future?  Or should Swayman, who has three years of control left, be the one to keep?  Both would command strong interest but losing one of them would certainly hurt their short-term fortunes.  The amount of cap space could also be limited since a decent backup would cost at least $2MM, likely more.  Considering the goaltending market typically shakes out quickly, the Bruins will need to decide which path they plan to take fairly quickly.

Get Center Help

This season, Boston had strong depth down the middle led by veterans Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, who returned to the NHL after spending a season back home.  Bergeron finished third in the team in scoring and Krejci fifth, a nice return on a combined base cap hit of $3.5MM.  Of course, there were $4.5MM in bonuses, all of which were easily met and with the Bruins spending the season over the cap, that triggered the carryover penalty.  Both veterans are set to become unrestricted free agents once again this summer and while there’s little concern that they’ll sign elsewhere, it remains to be seen if one or both are willing to return for another year, 20 for Bergeron and 17 for Krejci.

If both decide to give it another go, they’re likely to sign similarly-structured contracts to the ones they played on, allowing Boston to kick some of the cost over to 2024-25.  However, it’d only be kicking the problem down the road as organizationally, they need to add at least one longer-term middleman.  Pavel Zacha had a career year this season and could slide back to center but when he was with New Jersey, he struggled to produce so it’s hardly a guarantee he’ll be able to back up his 57-point campaign.  Charlie Coyle is a capable secondary center but not a true top-liner at this stage of his career so he shouldn’t be the solution on the top line either.

If the Bruins want to look outside the organization, it will be tricky to land a replacement with their inability to afford a market-value contract.  There aren’t any true top options in free agency and if they want to look to the trade market (perhaps to Winnipeg for one of their middlemen), they don’t have much in the way of top picks at their disposal.  Their first available first-round pick is in 2025 while their next second-rounder is in 2026.  Prospect-wise, their pool isn’t the strongest thanks to moving out several good draft picks to help keep them in contention.

It won’t be easy to acquire one and it will be hard to afford it in their cap structure but there is a definite need down the middle to address this summer whether it’s bringing back their long-term veterans or looking elsewhere.  One way or the other, Sweeney is going to have to try to find a way to accomplish this.

Move A Blueliner

One way that Boston can try to create some cap space is to move a defenseman or two.  As things stand, they have nearly $31MM committed to seven rearguards for next season.  No other team has that much money committed to their back end.  By the time you add in Ullmark’s $5MM AAV and Swayman’s likely number near that amount, it looks like the Bruins could have half of next year’s cap committed to non-forwards.  That would certainly be a risky proposition.

Beyond Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, it’s plausible that any of their other defensemen could be in play.  Mike Reilly is someone they’d certainly want to move after he spent most of the year at AHL Providence although they’ll likely have to incentivize a team to take him or take a similarly-sized contract back which wouldn’t help their cap situation.  He has one year left at $3MM.  Derek Forbort is another pending UFA who can still hold his own on the third pairing but $3MM for someone in that slot is on the pricey side given their cap situation.  Even moving Jakub Zboril, another 2024 UFA, for someone making the league minimum would free up a little over $300K.

As for the other pending UFA out of this group, Matt Grzelcyk is one to watch for.  He was a top-four piece not long ago but has dropped into more of a depth role and found himself on the bench at times in the playoffs.  He’s still a capable blueliner but again, he’s on the pricey side for the role he was in down the stretch.  The expected departure of Dmitry Orlov could put him back on the second pairing but it still wouldn’t be surprising to see Sweeney try to find him a new home.

Brandon Carlo is the other regular that hasn’t been mentioned.  With four years left at $4.1MM, his contract is certainly reasonable for a second-pairing defender although he’s not exactly the type of blueliner that’s going to jump in the play and contribute much offensively.  In an ideal world, Boston would probably want to keep him but if they find themselves having to trade for a center, Carlo would be one of their more asked-about trade chips in such a scenario so moving him can’t be ruled out either.

For now, the Bruins have the costliest defense in the NHL.  It seems unlikely that will still be the case in October when the 2023-24 campaign gets underway.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dmitry Orlov Looking To Test Open Market

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  • While the Bruins would likely want to keep defenseman Dmitry Orlov in the fold if they could free up enough cap space to do so, the veteran told Sport-Express’ Alexey Shevchenko that he’s looking forward to seeing what’s available in free agency. The 31-year-old is coming off another strong season, notching 36 points in 66 games between Washington and Boston while logging 22:33 per night, the second-highest ATOI of his career.  Orlov, who also indicated that he’s not planning to sign in the KHL, is coming off a contract that carries a $5.1MM AAV and is likely to get a fair bit more than that on the open market with a long-term agreement.

Latest On Tyler Bertuzzi

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  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his 32 Thoughts blog that the Boston Bruins are “exploring what it needs to do to keep Tyler Bertuzzi,” a player set to hit unrestricted free agency later this summer. The Bruins traded their 2024 first-round pick to the Detroit Red Wings to acquire Bertuzzi, and the 28-year-old subsequently impressed in the black and gold, scoring 16 points in 21 regular-season games and 10 points in the team’s seven-game first-round playoff series. Bertuzzi is likely to have wide-ranging interest this summer in what is considered a thinner free agent class, so it’s unclear whether Boston will be able to get his signature on a contract extension. But given Friedman’s report, we at least now know that the Bruins are actively looking for an avenue to retain the former 30-goal scorer.

Boston Bruins’ Kai Wissmann Returning To Germany

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After a one-year attempt at making a pro hockey career in North America, Boston Bruins depth defenseman Kai Wissmann is returning to the DEL’s Eisbären Berlin for 2023-24, according to the team.

During his one-year stay in the Bruins organization, Wissmann, 26, never got an NHL look. However, a solid showing with Germany at the recently-concluded Men’s World Championship could have garnered Wissmann some NHL interest for next season, as it did after the 2022 edition of the tournament.

In his lone season with the Bruins, spent entirely with AHL Providence, Wissmann registered a goal and eight assists (nine points) in 31 games. He didn’t appear in any Calder Cup Playoff contests for Providence, failing to earn much of any responsibility at the AHL level.

Berlin announced that Wissmann signed a long-term deal but didn’t clarify its length. It’s safe to assume he’ll play the rest of his career overseas after being unable to secure an everyday AHL role in his mid-20s.

Before joining the Bruins in 2022, Wissmann had been a part of the Eisbären organization dating back to junior hockey in 2012. The only team he’s ever played for in the top German league, Wissmann has logged six goals, 62 assists, 68 points, and a +67 rating over nine seasons and 285 games with Berlin.

Wissmann had a career-high four goals and 20 points with Berlin in 2021-22, spearheading the NHL contract offer from Boston. He’s still technically a pending restricted free agent so the team can retain his NHL rights with a qualifying offer. Given the long-term commitment in Germany, that’s an improbable scenario.

Wissmann said the following on his return to his home country:

During my time in the AHL, I noticed more and more how much I missed the atmosphere in the different DEL arenas. Especially at our home games in the Mercedes-Benz Arena. I’m really looking forward to hearing the whole arena sing our polar bear song again before we enter through the polar bear’s head. When I think about it, I’m already motivated again for the coming season. It feels like coming home to me. Berlin is a great city.

Owen Pederson Signs AHL Deal With Providence Bruins

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One of the top CHL free agents, as we highlighted earlier this month, is off the market – at least for now. Today, the AHL’s Providence Bruins, Boston’s affiliate, announced the signing of undrafted forward Owen Pederson to a two-year AHL contract.

The move does not bind him to the Boston Bruins organization. Signing an AHL contract does not have any effect on a player’s NHL rights, which have still gone unclaimed. Pederson could sign an NHL contract with any team over the course of his deal in Providence.

Pederson was draft eligible in 2020 but didn’t get his name called after registering a strong 50 points in 61 games with the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice. He’s remained with Winnipeg ever since, recording a pair of point-per-game seasons and a strong playoff performance in 2022 (20 points in 14 games).

It didn’t ever culminate in a draft selection, however, but he’ll still get the chance to try and impress NHL teams at the minor pro level in hopes of earning a contract. He picked a smart team to sign with, given the Bruins’ lack of depth in their current prospect pool. Any strong showing in Providence (or even during training camp) would likely earn him a contract offer from Boston.

Last season with Winnipeg, he notched an impressive 74 points in 65 games, including 32 goals and 42 assists. Standing at an imposing 6-foot-3 and weighing in around 200 pounds, Pederson brings pro-ready size to the Providence lineup as well.

Snapshots: Lehner, Hurricanes, Development Camp

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In a piece from Vegas Hockey Now, Dan Kingerski raises an interesting question about the future between the pipes for the Vegas Golden Knights next season. Although it would be more financially feasible for the Golden Knights to retain Robin Lehner on LTIR, Kingerski asserts that Vegas may be better off buying out Lehner’s contract this summer.

The main point behind his reasoning is that with netminder Adin Hill eventually hitting the unrestricted free-agent market this offseason, having the cap space this summer to retain Hill may be Lehner’s undoing in Vegas. If the Golden Knights were to buy out the remaining 2-year, $10MM remaining on Lehner’s contract, Vegas would be hit with a $750K cap penalty next season, $2.25MM the following year, and $1.75 the next two years.

Obviously, the injury concerns surrounding Lehner are well known, as he missed the entirety of the 2022-23 regular season, and remains out during the Golden Knight’s playoff run. In his two full seasons in Vegas (subtracting the three regular-season games he played during the 2019-20 season following his trade from the Chicago Blackhawks), Lehner has posted a 36-21-4 record in 63 games played, garnering a .909 SV% and a 2.66 GAA.

Unfortunately, although the win record and GAA have both been positive for Lehner, the SV% has left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, Hill has been well above average since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks in late August of last year. In 27 games played for the Golden Knights this year, Hill posted a 16-7-1 record, accruing a .915 SV% and a 2.45 GAA. As both he, Jonathan Quick, and Laurent Brossoit enter unrestricted free agency this year, the potential Western Conference champions will have difficult choices to make in net this offseason.

Other snapshots:

  • In an opinion piece from Ken Wiebe of Sportsnet, a hypothetical question is raised as to whether or not the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets would make an ideal trade fit this offseason. With plenty of buzz surrounding the potential rebuild of the Jets this summer, Wiebe questions whether Mark Scheifele and Connor Hellebuyck could be potential acquisitions for the Hurricanes. Both players will be pending unrestricted free agents after next season, and both players fit organizational needs at the moment. Martin Necas being the only true top-six center in the organization, and both Frederik Andersen and Antti Raanta becoming UFA’s this summer, the Hurricanes could look to poach the Jets for resources.
  • Mark Divver of the NHL reports that both Eric Parker and Ben Wozney from Bowling Green State University have received development camp invites from the Boston Bruins and Seattle Kraken, respectively. Parker appeared in eight games for Bowling Green, scoring one goal and three assists, as Wozney scored two goals and 13 assists over 36 games for the Falcons.

Could Matt Grzelcyk Be A Trade Candidate This Summer?

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  • Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic examines (subscription link) some potential trade options for the Bruins this summer, including defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. The 29-year-old has been a capable secondary producer offensively for the past several seasons, including notching a career-high 26 points in 75 games in 2022-23.  However, his $3.6875MM AAV is a bit on the high side relative to his ice time which is that of a player on the third pairing and with the team facing quite a cap crunch this summer, Grzelcyk is a luxury they might not be able to afford.  He, along with fellow left-shot defenders Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly, are all a year away from unrestricted free agency and there’s a good chance one of them, if not more, will be on the move in the coming months.

Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Boston Bruins.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Trent Frederic – Frederic earned a full-time role on the Bruins this season, which is an accomplishment when you consider the team won 65 games in the regular season, setting an NHL record. The 25-year-old center was a late first round draft pick in 2016 and just had his best NHL season. He scored 17 goals and 31 points, adding some offensive punch while routinely playing on the team’s fourth line.

Frederic is coming off a two-year contract where he earned just over $1MM per season. He signed that contract before he even became a regular in the lineup, so after scoring nearly 20 goals he will be looking for a big raise, and a bigger role on the ice as well. He has arbitration rights and a decent argument to make $2.5 – $3MM with his offensive numbers.

G Jeremy Swayman – Technically the team’s backup goaltender, Swayman was pretty busy, playing 37 games for the league leading Bruins. He posted a 2.27 GAA and a .920 SV%. Though he is just completing his entry-level contract, the 24 year old has played 88 career NHL games and has a 2.24 GAA and .920 SV% in that time. He has a great argument for a large raise on his $925k salary, and could earn as much as $3MM on a short-term deal which would give him a chance to really prove himself before cashing in on a longer contract.

Others RFAs: Samuel Asselin, Shane Bowers, Jakub Lauko, Marc McLaughlin, Kai Wissmann, Brandon Bussi, Michael DiPietro, Kyle Keyser

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Patrice Bergeron – Yet another Selke nomination (and likely winning) season in the books for Bergeron as he continues his reign as the best defensive forward in the game. The only question is, will he continue to play or is his career coming to a close? He played this season on a one-year contract with a cap hit of $2.5MM but a total value of $5MM when you include bonuses. Of course, the veteran is worth every penny, but is he going to sign another team-friendly deal?

At 37 years of age, and a long wait after the Bruins season ended to embrace his teammates, it appears Bergeron may be considering retirement instead of a return to the Bruins in 2023-24.

F David Krejci – Like Bergeron, Krejci played on a team-friendly deal this past season, but also appears to be considering the end of his playing career. He earned just $1MM in salary last season plus $2MM in bonuses, and scored 16 goals and 56 points in 70 games. The 37-year-old center played the 2021-22 season in Czechia and could be heading back there next season as well.

F Tyler Bertuzzi – Bertuzzi was a trade deadline pickup of the Bruins and could be in for a big payday if he decides to hit the open market this offseason. He fit in perfectly in Boston, scoring 16 points in 21 regular season games and ten points in seven playoff games with the Bruins. A bit of a scrappy winger, Bertuzzi adds a lot more than just offense and could capitalize on a rather weak free agent class this offseason.

The 28-year-old winger made $4.75MM for the past two seasons and is likely looking to add another $2MM or so to that on his next contract after a strong run with the Bruins and a 30-goal and 62-point season in 68 games in 2021-22. The Bruins will need to decide if they want to commit that to a winger, or hold onto that cap space to find centers.

F Nick Foligno – Foligno signed a two-year contract with the Bruins in 2021 and though he ended up being overpaid during that time, he did fill a valuable role on the team as an experienced winger who plays a scrappy style and adds a bit of scoring from the fourth line. The 35 year old had ten goals and 26 points in 60 regular season games and would be willing to return to Boston at a fraction of the $3.8MM salary he earned for the past two seasons.

F Garnet Hathaway – Another trade deadline pickup, Hathaway played on the team’s bottom six while bringing energy, physicality and strong defensive play. He also scored 22 points in 84 games split between the Washington Capitals and Bruins. Hathaway signed a four-year contract with a cap hit of $1.5MM with the Capitals in 2019 and played well in that time, earning himself a raise on his next contract. At 31 years of age, he may not get another four year deal, but a two or three year contract with a cap hit of $2MM would make sense, though the Bruins may look to spend their money elsewhere.

D Dmitry Orlov – Orlov was an elite fit on the Bruins lineup, earning the moniker (Orr)lov during his short stint in Boston. He arrived with Hathaway in a trade from the Capitals and clicked immediately on the left defense, scoring 17 points in 23 regular season games and eight more points in seven postseason contests. The Bruins already have big money committed to Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy on the blue line and may not have the space to retain Orlov.

The 31-year-old defenseman is arguably the most valuable player eligible to become a free agent this offseason, and would be wise to see what offers are out there for him. It has been suggested he wants to return to Washington, but wherever he ends up, he will sign a long-term agreement and it will surely be with a larger cap hit than the $5.1MM he has been earning since 2017. If he tests the open market, he could earn as much as $7MM on a five year contract.

Other UFAs: Tomas Nosek, Matt Filipe, Joona Koppanen, Vinni Lettieri, Chris Wagner, Connor Clifton, Jack Ahcan, Connor Carrick, Anton Stralman, Nick Wolff

Projected Cap Space

The Bruins show just under $5MM in cap space this offseason but they have some considerable holes to fill. If Bergeron and Krejci both leave the NHL, the Bruins are without their top two centers. Bertuzzi, Orlov and Hathaway were all trade deadline acquisitions but there is little chance they find the room to keep any of them with their limited space. Swayman has been excellent for them, and is just coming into his own at the NHL level, but will they be able to find space to keep him or does he get traded? Ideally, the Bruins would find a way to move Mike Reilly’s contract which has one year left on it at $3MM. This would open up a bit of space to re-sign some key players and fill out their roster. It will be an interesting offseason in Boston with so many holes to fill and not many dollars to spend.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

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