Who Else Should the Boston Bruins Buy Out

This Boston Bruins fan would like to start off by offering congratulations to the 2016 Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins. While I was hoping that Joe Thornton would get to raise the Cup this year, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin, Matt Murray and company played four solid series and were the better team in the Stanley Cup Final.

With the Stanley Cup handed out, all the teams are now on the clock. The Boston Bruins will be looking at their roster and try to decide if any of the players should be bought out. While Causeway Crowd saw Dennis Seidenberg as the leading candidate for a buyout this season, there are a few other people whose jobs aren’t entirely secure in the TD Garden.

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Jimmy Hayes is the only other big standout player when it comes to a possible buy out. The Pride of Dorchester was supposed to be an extremely physical player that could play like Milan Lucic did. That didn’t quite pan out (but thankfully Matt Beleskey stepped up to be that player in Boston) the way Don Sweeney had hoped.

Jimmy Hayes has a $2.3 million dollar cap hit. Do the Bruins really need to spend millions on a bottom-six forward when there is young talent playing just as well (or in Frank Vatrano‘s case, better) as the 6’5″ Hayes?

While Hayes should be considered, it’s unlikely they’ll buy him out though. Talks with Loui Eriksson are not looking promising, and signs are pointing in the direction of moving his rights at the NHL Entry Draft. It’s unlikely that the B’s will sign Brett Connolly in the offseason, and the B’s haven’t come to terms with either Tyler Randell or Lee Stempniak.

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Adam McQuaid and Kevan Miller should be on the list as well. The only reason they’re out of contention is because of the lottery tickets they were given by Sweeney earlier in the offseason.

Simply put, they’re both being way overpaid for being bottom-pair, gritty, stay at home defensemen. Remember how people complained about Chris Kelly on the fourth line before he broke his leg? It’s only going to get worse if McQuaid and Miller don’t prove to the Bruins that they can play some seriously solid hockey against other teams top six forwards.

If the Bruins want to get back into playoff contention, they need to take a long, hard look at themselves and figure out who can’t help them moving forward.  That long, hard look might include moving someone today to make the team better tomorrow.