Boston Bruins: What Sweeney Needs To Do Moving Forward
Boston Bruins: What Sweeney Needs To Do Moving Forward To Right The Ship For The Bruins
Don Sweeney started his off-season moves this week by signing two players to contracts. Defenseman Kevan Miller was signed to a four year $10 million contract, while Seth Griffith was signed to a one year two-way contract. The deals are the first of what is expected to be many more to come to help improve upon the roster and make the Bruins a playoff team again.
The Miller signing doesn’t really come as eye-popping and it really shouldn’t. Miller has been a decent sixth defenseman option for the Bruins but the contract he was given is questionable. There will be more moves to come, and that need to be made if this team wants to be back in the postseason.
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The biggest issue with the Bruins was the defensive corps that was sub-par and seemed to be the Achilles heel of this usually strong defensive team. The six man unit the Bruins have at the moment is aging with guys like Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg. Those players aren’t the same caliber as they once were.
Sweeney needs to add a true number one defenseman to his roster to help them become a better overall defensive team. One player in particular that the Bruins should target is St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. Shattenkirk has been a steady defenseman for the Blues and has really been one of the major reasons for their success.
The move would have to be via trade as Shattenkirk has one year left on his contract. The best way to acquire him wold be to package together a draft pick with a prospect and maybe a roster player. The good thing about the Bruins situation is they have a lot of good young prospects that could be worthy of being shipped out to St. Louis for Shattenkirk.
Next: Seth Griffith Signs One Year Deal
If you’re Sweeney you may even consider trading away David Krejci (who carries a sturdy cap hit) to clear some salary while getting a number one d-man. The options even extend to free agency when looking at defenseman.