We can’t say for sure the Bruins will have both Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci in the fold for 2022-23, but it’s pretty clear the veteran centers are in Boston’s plans.
The problem, though, is how general manager Don Sweeney finds a way to squeeze them into a cozy cap situation.
The Bruins, according to CapFriendly.com, currently have just below $4.8 million in salary cap space — and that doesn’t include what they’ll have to pay for Pavel Zacha, whom they recently acquired in a trade and will go to arbitration. Zacha presumably will get a raise and carry a cap hit higher than his most recent $2.25 million.
That doesn’t leave a lot of space left over for Bergeron, who carried a $6.875 million cap hit last season, or Krejci, whose most recent NHL deal carried a $7.25 million hit. One assumes they’ll both take pay cuts, but Bergeron is the reigning Selke Trophy winner, and Krejci is a bona fide No. 2 NHL center still. They probably won’t be playing for any sort of minimum or anything like that.
So, how exactly does this get done? Buyouts don’t sound like something Sweeney is strongly considering, so that’s probably not an option. The Bruins could clear some space by trading veteran contracts, of course, but their injury situation seemingly makes that difficult. Do they really want to make themselves even thinner on the blue line, for instance, where they won’t have Charlie McAvoy or Matt Grzelcyk to start the season?
It’s possible the Bruins use long-term injured reserve to clear space while McAvoy, Grzelcyk or Brad Marchand recover. But that’s very much a short-term move. Once those players return, their cap hits reappear, and the Bruins must get cap-compliant. It’s risky business.
The best option, and the one that might explain why it’s taking so long for Bergeron and Krejci to officially return, could be to use a very specific piece of the collective bargaining agreement to their benefit. It all revolves around performance bonuses. The pool of players to whom teams can give performance bonuses is quite small. Only entry-level contract players, veterans returning from long-term injury or players aged 35 or older are allowed to sign contracts with performance bonuses.
For the Bruins, it’s that third option — one mentioned by 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Michael Felger on Thursday — that fits best. Both Bergeron and Krejci are 36 years old and therefore could sign one-year contracts with performance bonuses. Those bonuses do count against the cap, but as Puckpedia points out, teams can exceed the salary cap by up to 7.5% with the bonuses. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, though: That bill comes the next season in the form of a carryover charge on the following year’s cap.
The NHL salary cap for 2022-23 is $82.5 million, which means Boston could exceed that number by just under $6.2 million in bonuses for Bergeron and Krejci. It’s better than nothing, especially if the Bruins believe they can still contend with the two veteran pivots in the mix.
It obviously presents more long-term questions. Looking ahead, though, the Bruins have about $12 or $13 million coming off the books next season, a figure that doesn’t include David Pastrnak, who also will be a free agent. The Bruins hope he’ll be locked up with a long-term extension by then, but he’ll certainly eat up some of that space. Then you throw in the potential Bergeron/Krejci carryovers, plus the fact you’ll need to replace the exiting skaters, and it gets a bit messy.
But it’s certainly possible the Bruins look at that as a tomorrow problem and push forward with both Bergeron and Krejci, which obviously is their best shot at short-term success.
