Bruins Received This Grade From ESPN For Offseason Moves

The Bruins had to be frugal with their offseason decisions, yet they set themselves up to remain competitive next season.

Boston brought back fan favorite Milan Lucic, but it also signed potential upside pieces like James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Geekie. The market dictated a swap from Dmitry Orlov to Kevin Shattenkirk, but the blueline pairings remained intact, and the Bruins are working to bring back Jeremy Swayman to pair with Linus Ullmark again.

The Black and Gold parted with Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno in a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks, and Tyler Bertuzzi left for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They await Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci’s decisions, but Boston did well enough this offseason to earn a “B” from ESPN on Wednesday.

“The Bruins haven’t tackled their biggest offseason challenge to date, which is re-signing restricted free agent goaltender Jeremy Swayman to a new deal,” Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton wrote for ESPN.com. “Until that’s done, there’s a pallor of sorts hanging over Boston. GM Don Sweeney had to earmark a majority of the Bruins’ available cap space to eventually use on Swayman, and freeing up dollars and cents is what sent Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno to Chicago in June. Sweeney brought back a fan favorite in Milan Lucic and added a sound veteran in James van Riemsdyk to fill in around the edges.

“But until the Swayman contract is complete — and until the Bruins know for sure whether Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci will be back again — Boston’s success (or failure) to this point of the postseason might be too early to judge entirely.”

Sweeney kept the lineup flexible enough for head coach Jim Montgomery depending on if one or both of Bergeron and Krejci return, and there are multiple prospects who hope to crack the NHL roster, but the Bruins did well this offseason in adding more depth to a lineup that still can compete for a Stanley Cup.