What if the Bruins are done signing free agent forwards?

Are the Bruins done signing free agent forwards?

It has been just over three weeks since the NHL free agency frenzy began and it has been a relatively quiet one for the Boston Bruins and general manager Don Sweeney.

Sweeney has made eight signings, with the biggest name coming to Boston being former Nashville Predators forward Craig Smith on a three-year, $9.3 million contract. That has a chance of being a productive signing as he has been a 20-goal scorer in five of his nine seasons in Nashville.

The Bruins also signed Gregg McKegg from the New York Rangers and Callum Booth from the Carolina Hurricanes to one-year, two-way deals.

Sweeney re-signed defensemen Matt Grzelcyk to a four-year, $14.75 million deal. Fellow blueliners Kevan Miller is back on a one-year, $2 million contract with bonuses and Jakub Zboril inked a two-year, $1.45 million deal. Forwards Zach Senyshyn (one-year) and Karson Kuhlman (two-year) each will be back in the organization after signing two-way deals.

Restricted free agent and right-wing Jake DeBrusk is still unsigned and the Bruins have $6,657,686 cap space remaining according to cap friendly. It’s going to be interesting to see what Sweeney decides to do with that money.

The Bruins have passed on forwards Taylor Hall, who signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres and Tyler Toffoli, who is heading to the Montreal Canadiens in free agency. Forward Evgenii Dadonov is remaining in the Atlantic Division after signing with the Ottawa Senators and leaving the Florida Panthers.

Dadonov’s teammate last season with the Panthers Mike Hoffman is still available. He would be a nice addition to the Bruins to provide more scoring should DeBrusk not come back.

Where that remaining money left is spent is worth keeping an eye on. With the moves already done, are the Bruins a better team than they were last year? Most likely not.

Boston has eight of their top goal scorers currently under contract. However, there is still a gap between the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning and the Black and Gold in the division.

If the Bruins are done in free agency, then are they must be banking on some of their prospects to fill voids that will be left when the season begins. Forwards Jack Studnicka and Trent Frederic are two forwards that the Bruins might have in the plans.

The Bruins also have to take into consideration that two members of their top line are recovering from surgeries in September and might not be ready to begin the season whenever that is. Brad Marchand will need four months to recover from sports hernia surgery and David Pastrnak will need five months to recover from hip surgery. Marchand has a mid-January time frame to return and Pastrnak mid-February.

Passing on all of the free agents forwards except for Smith until this point is a bit head-scratching. Depending on when the 2020-21 season begins, they could be missing Marchand and Pastrnak. Those are big losses upfront if one is out, but missing both would be devastating.

If the Bruins are done adding free-agent forwards, then they are banking on some of the prospects being ready to add scoring and depth in the NHL next season.