Boston Bruins: Free agent thoughts and an update on prospects in college

Some random Boston Bruins free-agent thoughts and updates on some prospects in college.

What will the 2020-21 NHL season look like? We still don’t know. Actually, nobody officially knows. Hopefully, we find sometime soon, but while we wait for word on next season, here are some thoughts about the Boston Bruins free agents and a prospects update in college.

A shortened season will benefit Chara.

Rumors are leaking about a 48-60 regular-season. If that’s the case, that’s good news for Zdeno Chara. The captain is still an unrestricted free agent, but word is he is waiting to what a season looks like before he makes a decision on his future.

A shorter season means fewer games for Chara and less of a pounding his body takes as he turns 44 in March. Most likely a third defensive pairing if he signs, he most likely won’t command much more than a $2 million contract. Although several teams are reported looking into signing Chara, if he plays, the thought here is he re-signs with the Bruins.

Still a quiet free agency for DeBrusk.

Jake DeBrusk is still an unrestricted free agent. The Bruins second-line left wing with David Krejci and a rotating door of right wings is averaging just over 20 goals a season in his first three years with Boston.

In 2018-19, he scored a career-high 27 goals and was well on his way to his second straight 20-goal season last year when the season was paused in March because of the coronavirus pandemic at 19. The talent is there for him to be consistent a yearly 20-goal scorer, but he has shown some inconsistency in his game.

With the Bruins facing the possibility of not having Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak available to begin the season as they recover from offseason surgeries in September, look for DeBrusk to return to the Bruins on a short-term deal around $4 million.

Good start to the college season for Becker.

Jack Becker is a senior at the University of Michigan and the 197th pick in the seventh round of the 2015 Entry Draft has already collected three assists in the Wolverines’ first four games.

In a weekend sweep of Arizona State University on November 13 and 14, he had an assist in each game. This past weekend, Michigan swept the University of Wisconsin in Madison and he had an assist in the opening game in a 5-2 victory. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound Becker has 22 goals and 23 assists in 105 games in Ann Arbor.

Michigan, which has outscored their opponents 18-4, is one of the favorites in the Big Ten Conference this year and is loaded with young talent that will be draft-eligible next season.

Dustyn McFaul’s season to begin after Thanksgiving.

The Bruins selected McFaul 92nd in the 2019 Entry Draft in the third round and he will get his sophomore season going after Thanksgiving at Minnesota-Duluth as the National College Hockey Conference announced they will start their season in the first week in December.

The conference will play a 26-game slate broken over two portions. The first portion of the schedule will be played in a pod format from December 1-20 with each team playing nine games over 16 days on the campus of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The move is being done by the NCHA for the health and safety of players and coaches and limit travel early in the season.

The second portion of the schedule will begin after New Years Day and the plan is for a more normal schedule with teams playing home games in their own areas on campuses.

Last season as a freshman, McFaul led his freshman teammates with seven goals and eight assists in 31 games.