Five players Bruins could trade in NHL offseason to create salary cap …
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Five players Bruins could trade in offseason to create salary cap space originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Boston Bruins went all-in during the 2022-23 NHL season to chase a Stanley Cup title.
They traded a ton of draft picks to acquire Tyler Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov before the March 3 trade deadline. They signed veteran centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci to one-year contracts that will result in overages applied to their 2023-24 salary cap.
After a stunning first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Florida Panthers, the bill has come due for the Bruins. The roster will look different next season.
“Our cap situation we leveraged a little bit — everybody knows our overage at $4.5 million — so we have some constraints, as do several teams around the league. Our goal this season was to put the absolute best roster we could put together and try to take a legitimate run, and we failed, no question,” Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said at a press conference Tuesday.
“We have to pay that forward a little bit. That might mean we’re instituting younger players, it might mean roster changes which we would like to make. That might mean I might be able to sign one of those three players (acquired before the trade deadline) or other unrestricted players. We have to address the two RFAs in Trent Frederic and Jeremy Swayman, which we’ll do. Roster changes are likely coming. We’re not going to be the same team.”
The salary cap is expected to rise by just $1 million to a ceiling of $83.5 million for the 2023-24 campaign. The Bruins have more than 10 players from their playoff roster eligible for unrestricted or restricted free agency this summer. Superstar right wing David Pastrnak’s salary cap hit is rising from $6.67 million to $11.25 million with his eight-year extension starting in 2023-24.
The Bruins have limited salary space (less than $10 million) and lots of guys to re-sign. If Bergeron and/or Krejci retire, center immediately becomes…
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