Explain? Why certainly.
The Boston Bruins didn’t have much to do this offseason. I mean, they came just one game short of winning a championship last season. The team has its issues, don’t get me wrong. But there’s only so much that can be accomplished through free agency. Charlie McAvoy needs to sign so that Brandon Carlo can sign so that we can talk about the Bruins.
We knew they’d have to let a couple of guys go, most notably Marcus Johansson and Noel Acciari because there are really two things that are more important than anything else for this team’s future. The Bruins need to find contracts for Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.
The Bruins, Along With Everybody Else, Have No Cap Room
You may or may not have noticed, but everybody is in salary cap hell this offseason. Why? Because Gary Bettman sucks.
You see, in December Bettman did this really cool thing where he said the salary cap is projected to rise to about $83 million for 2019-2020. Now, December is right before the trade deadline when every team makes their plans for what direction they want to move in the next 6 months. As such, everyone planned for the salary cap to rise by $3.5 million. The problem is that the cap only actually rose to $81.5 million, ONE AND A HALF MILLION DOLLARS LESS THAN BETTMAN SAID.
This creates an especially tough situation for the Bruins. Charlie McAvoy is expected to sign with an AAV in the $7-8 million range (precedented by the Hedman and Ekman-Larsson deals). The Bruins currently have about $7.2 million in cap space. Yes, they have enough to give him a fair contract. You might even think it’s easy for them to say, “Look, Chuck. We are giving you literally everything we can give you. You gotta take it.” There’s one problem with that.
Brandon Carlo also needs to be signed. To do that, the Bruins are going to have to move somebody to make cap room. Charlie McAvoy’s camp knows this and so they know that there will be more cap room sometime in the near future. This incentivizes him to hold out for as long as possible since more cap space gives Charlie McAvoy more leverage.
Basically, the lack of cap room means that the talks are about how much the Bruins can give Charlie McAvoy instead of how much they should give him.
How The Bruins Can Make Some Room
Best Case Scenario: Trade David Backes
It’s probably nothing more than a dream at this point. But look If David Backes’ Contract is gone, all of the Bruins’ problems go away. They have his 8 team trade list. But I feel like if there was a team on the list willing to take him, they would’ve made a deal by now. The Bruins are also definitely willing to retain some of that salary. But if we’re retaining any more than $2.5 million, it’s probably not worth it. This sucks since Jeremy Jacobs said no more buyouts for a while (even though that’s what we need right now). It’s still possible that a Backes deal still happens before the season starts, but I’m not banking on it.
Bruins Could Resort To Trading Torey Krug
This, opposite to the Backes solution, is something that would be very easy to make happen. But we really don’t want it to happen. Torey Krug had 53 points in 64 games last season. Even more significant is that 30 of those points came on the Bruins’ 25.9% power play last season. He did more for that top PP unit than McAvoy, who would presumably take that role in Krug’s absence, could ever do. Not only that, but you simply can’t get the kind of production that Krug gives for a cap hit of $5.25 million anymore.
So why is trading Krug a solution? Simply put, he’s entering the last year of his contract. The Bruins won’t have enough cap room to give him the contract he deserves, especially when they’ll need to find deals for Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk. As good as his offensive production is, McAvoy and Carlo are both the kind of cornerstone defensemen that this franchise wants to build around. The same way all great Bruins teams have been built.
Moving Kevan Miller Is Also a Possibility
Kevan Miller has been a very important piece for the Bruins through the entire rebuild, and I’d be sad to see him go. He’s a cap hit of $2 million. The Bruins just signed Connor Clifton, another right-shot defenseman, to a 3 year/$3 million extension. Opening up just $2 million in cap space allows for McAvoy to be signed and for a potential bridge deal with Carlo.
Ultimately the decision by the front office on whether to move Krug or Miller vs waiting for someone to take Backes will come down to how badly Cam Neely and Don Sweeney want to lock up McAvoy as the Bruins’ franchise defenseman. The problem is, it’s not even that simple. After McAvoy, there is still another piece that needs to be locked up.
Why McAvoy’s Deal Has To Get Done Before Carlo’s
Here’s the thing. McAvoy is supposed to be the next legendary Bruins defenseman. He’s expected to be the next in the line of guys like Eddie Shore, Bobby Orr, Ray Bourque, and Zdeno Chara. The thing is, he isn’t fully developed in his game yet, so he won’t be getting a double-digit AAV. Because of this, the McAvoy deal is going to be very telling as to what Carlo’s deal will be like. If the Bruins can sign McAvoy to a team-friendly deal, it’ll give them leverage against Carlo.
The other thing is that with limited salary cap space. The Bruins have to prioritize which one of their young defensemen they will use their cap room on before they have to move another piece. This takes some time, so it’s very likely that one of these two players ends up holding out into the season. I could also see a bridge deal as a very real possibility for Brandon Carlo.
We Are Mostly Likely Going To Keep On Waiting
The thing that eats at me is that we can’t really talk about the Bruins until at least the McAvoy deal gets done. The reason I say this is we are looking at a drastically different season if McAvoy ends up holding out into the season. We are going to be miserable while waiting for him to get signed. Afterward, we’re going to be over critical of him because he held out. If McAvoy does get signed in time. We could be hoping for another deep playoff run this year for the Bruins. I mean, all the pieces are still there from last year.
If you ask me, I think the deal gets done during the first or second day of training camp, just like Pastrnak. I think once a player starts to miss actual training camp days. Both parties get a lot more desperate and a deal comes together. Reports have said that Charlie McAvoy wants to be a Bruin for life. The Bruins definitely want him for the long haul. That alone should be enough for them to get a deal done in a reasonable amount of time.
