Don Sweeney has been consistent in his win-now/win-later approach toward managing the Boston Bruins roster over his decade as general manager so, by 3 p.m. Friday, will the Bruins be…
… or?
Sorry not sorry.
As much as Sweeney has been diligent in contrasting this deadline from last year’s when he used a seller’s market to replenish his prospect pool and high-end draft picks, the Bruins did make one spectacular effort in recent weeks to address their lingering need for the last piece of their top-four puzzle, the Brandon Carlo replacement, a right-shot defenseman.
Sweeney spoke around the matter when addressing the media gathering on Monday at Warrior, never mentioning the player (former Calgary stalwart Rasmus Andersson) who chose Vegas over Boston (the Bruins reportedly backed out when Andersson made it known he would not entertain a contract extension).
The Bruins demonstrated that they will not go hard, if at all, into the rental market. No expiring contracts.
What about their own?
One of the stranger scenarios this season has been the de-emphasis of Andrew Peeke, who is scheduled to become a free agent on July 1st. Sweeney said he is not eager to move out players who have helped the Bruins get to where they are. That sentiment screamed Peeke, whose season stepping up into a top-four role has only recently regressed.
As the season started out, the right-side depth chart of Charlie McAvoy, Henri Jokiharju and Peeke was soon reorganized with an emphasis on Peeke and a de-emphasis on Jokiharju, whose play lacked the requisite intensity, especially where it concerned mastery of Coach Marco Sturm’s man-to-man, D-zone coverage. When forwards cycled the puck to the point men, Jokiharju struggled to fight through picks set by opposing forwards. Peeke’s more-aggressive style served him well, especially during the first half of the season. When McAvoy went out of the lineup with the broken jaw sustained blocking a shot in Montreal, Peeke’s importance only intensified. Sturm otherwise relied on his left-shooting depth defensemen to shore up the right side, a bit of a no-no in today’s game. Jonathan Aspirot, a left shot playing his first season in the NHL, was preferred ahead of Jokiharju. More recently, Mason Lohrei has been preferred ahead of Peeke.
Somewhere along the way, Peeke hit a bit of a wall. Simultaneously, Jokiharju responded to a healthy scratch in Montreal – the game in which McAvoy was injured – necessitating Jokiharju’s immediate return to the lineup. Jokiharju has been a much more engaged, confident player ever since, so much so that Sturm recently revived the Jokiharju-Nikita Zadorov pairing.
Nonetheless, Sweeney tried to knock one out of the park with Andersson. The fact the Swedish poor man’s Raymond Bourque has struggled mightily since joining the Golden Knights offers no sense of relief in the Bruins’ offices or in this space. Andersson would have been a worthwhile pursuit, and the player who had retrieved most of the pucks in Calgary and had such a dominant presence in all aspects of the Flames’ game will find himself as a smaller fish in a larger pond of talent.
One wonders here if Vancouver right shot Philippe Myers will draw Boston’s interest. Sweeney has always liked range, and at 6-foot-5 Myers has plenty. The pick of the Canucks’ litter, Filip Hronek, wants to stay in Vancouver, so that’s not happening.
When it comes to St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk, the Bruins have to be careful not to settle for the best available, especially if, as Elliotte Friedman reported, the ask from the Blues would be the same as what it took Vegas to acquire Andersson. Faulk, a hulk of a player for someone known more for his skills than his physicality, is slowing down in his 30s.
Maybe this just needs to wait for the offseason.
Speaking of the Blues, the Robert Thomas rumors won’t go away. Thomas is a highly skilled, right-shooting center whose acquisition automatically gives his new team elite, playmaking ability in the top six. The three teams that don’t need more of that comprise three of the last four to win the Stanley Cup. If Sweeney is not willing to consider trading James Hagens, a player like Robert Thomas is out of his reach.
From a more-realistic standpoint, speculation abounds as to the Bruins’ intentions where it concerns right winger Viktor Arvidsson, whose contract expires with the end of the current season. Casey Mittelstadt has a year remaining on his deal.
Gut feelings:
1. It would be just like Sweeney to have something semi-big up his sleeve, but he is convincing in all but saying he won’t go to the mattresses for any player at this deadline. It will take spectacular overpayment to make an acquisition that changes the Bruins’ 2026 playoff trajectory.
2. I don’t see the Bruins moving Peeke and going with Jokiharju – things were far too negative for too long to consider the Finn’s recent surge without considering the possibility that potential suitors have requested he play as the prelude to a potential trade with Boston. Right-shot D’s are hard to find, and the runway has been too brief for Jokiharju to suddenly be a fit here and not Peeke.
3. A good month before Sweeney pointed out the track of Matt Poitras’ development as a positive once we get ourselves to see his NHL opportunities outside of the order in which they have occurred, Providence Bruins Coach Ryan Mougenel, in discussing Boston’s prospects with Rink Rap for the Bruins chapter of The Hockey News’ annual Future Watch issue, did the same. The question is whether Poitras is just taking the longer, more-typical road or whether he has a Jack Studnicka-type ceiling. If Poitras stays, chances are the Bruins think he’s got big-league ability that just needs more time.
4. What about Fabian Lysell? Will push come to shove? Is the 21st choice in the 2021 NHL Draft destined to break out of his pro-hockey purgatory? Has his game come far enough for some team with trouble scoring goals to consider giving him that elusive NHL opportunity?
5. Who is turning pro after the NCAA season finishes? Sweeney alluded to Boston College senior captain Andre Gasseau, whose return from injury has leveraged a move of Hagens to the wing. Hagens does seem like the classic wanna-be center whose window into pro hockey begins on the wing.
Other thoughts: Anyone else see Oskar Jellvik’s goal? Freshly back in BC’s lineup after spending most of the last two seasons injured, the forgotten Boston prospect reached out and deflected a centering pass past big Boston University goaltender Mikhail Yegorov. The goal reminded Rink Rap of a bigger goal scored by another Swede, Bob Nystrom, to win the Stanley Cup in 1980. Other than that, not a great weekend for the Eagles, who dropped their home-and-home to Comm Ave., arch rival BU.
Mougenel, by the way, turned 50 on Monday. is doing a fantastic job guiding the Providence Bruins to what is shaping up as their best season since Peter Laviolette led a record-smashing 1998-99 group from worst to first and a romp of a run to the Calder Cup. With 83 points and with 20 games remaining, the P-Bruins are second only to Grand Rapids in the 32-team AHL.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 