Despite winning the Presidents trophy last year, the Boston Bruins have stumbled to a 1-3 start this season. Some early guesses as to why they have struggled are because of the loss of cap casualties Jarome Iginla, Johnny Boychuk, Shawn Thornton and Chad Johnson. While the early results are troubling, the worst is still to come for Boston. At the conclusion of this year, the Bruins face many more issues with the salary cap.
Per CapGeek, the Bruins have a major part of their team hitting free agency. The UFA list is large with Adam McQuaid, Gregory Campbell, Carl Soderberg, Daniel Paille and Matt Bartkowski as well as newcomer Bobby Robins all scheduled for free agency. Carl Soderberg may be the most important piece on that list, with three points in the first four games, and has shown improvement almost on a daily basis.
The RFA list may figure to be the most important issue to resolve for the Bruins. Headlining the list once again are Torey Krug, Reilly Smith, as well as Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Spooner, Matt Fraser, Niklas Svedberg, Craig Cunningham and more. Krug, Smith and Hamilton each should be in line for big pay raises, which could really cause the Bruins to stretch their wallets to find a solution.
Ever since the Boychuk trade, people have waited on GM Peter Chiarelli’s next move. Most people assume the next big extension will go to Smith, Krug, Hamilton or Soderberg but it’s unclear what he may have under his sleeve. The Bruins have made it a priority to lock up their stars, with Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci and Dennis Seidenberg, all under contract for years to come. The Bruins will have around $15 million to spend this offseason on their top players. They will have to be very creative because the following year sees Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson up for new deals.
The Bruins aren’t alone in their cap troubles. The Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins have made cap-clearing moves recently and are straddling the line between Stanley Cup contender and low playoff team. Both have taken the smaller moves (like Chicago moving Nick Leddy for example) in an effort to compete now.
The Bruins have taken a stronger approach by dealing Boychuk. It remains to be seen what will occur in the long run for these three perennial Stanley Cup contenders but one thing is certain; the Boston Bruins have serious cap issues that remain. Expect news of an extension to occur at some point this year, which will get the ball rolling on what could be a painful few years for Bruins fans.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
