The Boston Bruins obviously have a lot of their own salary cap issues to solve this off-season and have their own players that could be at risk of offer sheets. However, there is one name out there that they should show some interest in, that being Jakub Vrana.
We know that the right wing is a weak spot for the Boston Bruins; Jakub Vrana could be the ideal person to target to fit the need. As a winger that can play on the left or right, he offers versatility and he’d fit in quite well with the pool of Czech players already here in Boston.
You’d have to imagine that David Pastrnak and David Krejci would be more than welcoming to Jakub Vrana should he wish to sign an offer-sheet. In fact, they’re likely the ideal people to sell him on such a deal.
Now, the Washington Capitals are reasonably likely to match anything that the Boston Bruins would be bold enough to offer, but they also need to give new deals to Brett Connolly, Devante Smith-Pelly and Andre Burakovsky among others.
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The going rate for someone like Jakub Vrana, you’d imagine, as a one-time 47 point player is in the realms of $3.5 million for two years to about $4.5 – $5 million for a five year term. The deal that William Karlsson has just signed with the Vegas Golden Knights somewhat sets the market there. Of course, his $5.9 million average annual value comes on the back of that first year where he was right in the hunt for the Rocket Richard Trophy as a 43 goal man!
If you could find a way to balance the Boston Bruins’ books to offer, let’s say, $3.8 million across the next two seasons; a deal for Jakub Vrana would cost you just a single second round draft pick. That surely has to be an attractive way of using an offer sheet, but the big question will be whether the Washington Capitals would straight away halt any chance of it being successful by matching it.
Now, we’re talking a complete hypothetical here – offer sheets rarely seem to be successful in the modern-day NHL. If the Boston Bruins could snag Jakub Vrana, they’d be laughing – a young guy tied to a relatively small cap hit, whose stock appears to be on the rise and fulfils a positional need. Working out the finance around it all would be the big challenge, especially with Brandon Carlo, Danton Heinen and Charlie McAvoy all waiting on new deals.
Whilst we’re looking at the Washington Capitals, there’s also an alternate option to meet the need on the Boston Bruins wing. Andre Burakovsky would potentially be far cheaper; there’s no guarantee the Capitals even qualify him this summer; he’d be an ideal reclamation project at a very low price.
With back-to-back 12 goal, 13 assist seasons; he’s probably almost a lost cause in the capital city, but given the right environment and teammates in Boston, maybe he’s also worth taking a run at?
The off-season is always great fun for throwing ideas around; neither of these would be bad options; they’d likely both be slightly cheaper than finding a way to renew Marcus Johansson.