Draft capital could be key in bolstering current team
Don Sweeney has his coach. Now, over the next month that is the National Hockey League’s harvesting season, it is time for him to procure some players.
Free agency opens on July 1 and that might indeed be the time that best suits Sweeney to add to the forward group that desperately needs some bolstering beyond David Pastrnak.
In Marco Sturm’s introductory presser on Tuesday, Sweeney said he would look at all possible options to improve his roster, and that includes his draft capital that boasts the No. 7 overall pick and two second-rounders this year and two first-rounders in the next two seasons.
“We’ve been an aggressive organization, whether or not you want to point out fault in regard to trying to win and accomplish the ultimate goal,” said Sweeney, referring to the club’s decisions in past years to trade draft capital for veteran players for playoff runs. “That’s what we’re here for. So, we will use the draft capital and try and improve our hockey club this year, moving forward in every capacity possible. It might be making the selection, but it won’t mean that we aren’t having conversations that says, ‘how do we improve our hockey club today and moving forward.’”
The feeling here is that they should make that No. 7 pick. A top-10 pick for this organization doesn’t come around every year – and you wouldn’t want it to. It took a lot of pain in the 2024-25 season to land them that pick. So whether it’s Brady Martin or Anton Frondell or Caleb Desnoyers or even if James Hagens drops to them at seven, they should make that pick.
But beyond that? Yes, the B’s should definitely put their lure in the water with the two seconds this year and the two firsts in 2026 and 2027. The extra firsts could also give them flexibility to make an offer sheet bid for a restricted free agent, if a Matthew Knies or a Will Cuylle is amenable to one. Or could they be in the hunt for Jason Robertson, whom the cap-strapped Stars are reportedly dangling to make room to sign Mikael Granlund. Robertson has one more year left on a deal that has a cap hit of $7.75 million before he becomes a restricted free agent.
He will be expensive very quickly down the road, but a 25-year-old left wing who has already scored 40 goals twice would turbocharge the rebuild.
Would the Colorado Avalanche, who have barely over a $1 million in cap space according to puckpedia.com, entertain moving Martin Necas again to gain some flexibility? Necas has one year left at $6.5 million before he heads to free agency.
If nothing works out in the trade market that traditionally percolates in and around the draft, to be held this year on June 27 and 28, there is always free agency. And they’ll have money to spend, but not as much as some people think.
At the moment, puckpedia has them with $26.7 million in cap space but there are a lot of holes to fill. Morgan Geekie and Mason Lohrei are their key RFAs to sign and they’ll chew up close to $9 million of that cap space. They still have to make decisions on whether to qualify fellow RFAs Marat Khusnutdinov, John Beecher and Jakub Lauko. Cole Koepke is also a UFA. On the back end, they still have to sign a more permanent replacement for Brandon Carlo, whether that’s Henri Jokiharju or someone else. Depth D-men Parker Wotherspoon and Michael Callahan are both UFAs as well.
The money dries up quickly. After all that, the B’s would be hard-pressed to sign more than one impact free agent and maybe another complimentary player.
Who’s out there? Mitch Marner tops the list and he’ll most likely cost a suitor in the $13 million range. Brad Marchand, quickly moving into the “old friend” territory, has willed himself up high with his terrific playoff. He’ll be looking to cash in on that performance and who could blame him for that, after playing on a bargain contract for the last eight years with the Bruins? It seems very unlikely that there’s a reunion with Boston come July, nor does Marner seem a likely candidate to land here.
Other wings scheduled to be available are Nikolaj Ehlers and Brock Boeser, both of whom would bolster the scoring the depth. But either of those players will get overpaid. It is what happens on July 1. Chances are they’d be more expensive for the Bruins, who aren’t viewed as a contender after finishing fifth from the bottom of the league.
It’s no wonder that Sweeney is looking at all avenues to improve his team, including parting with his heard-earned draft capital.
