Boston Bruins: Why July is Going to be a Busy Month

Normally during the summer, the NHL sees a lot of downtime in the schedule of events. Not this July for the Boston Bruins and the rest of the league.

With the Stanley Cup Finals scheduled to end sometime at the beginning of the month of July, things will get busy ahead of the 2021-22 season shortly thereafter.

July 21 – Seattle Expansion Draft

The Seattle Kracken get a chance to draft something that will look like a roster for their first season in 2021-22. Four days prior to the 21st, the Kracken will receive the protected list from each NHL team and it gives them an idea as to who will or will not be available to pick from.

July 17 is also key because, the Kracken can negotiate with free agents that day, ahead of the other teams. There is no doubt the Bruins will lose some members of the organization those four days, but who remains to be seen. We’ll dive closer into the expansion draft as the date draws closer.

July 23 & 24 – NHL Entry Draft

The Bruins aren’t exactly stacked with young prospects, so this could be a pretty big draft in terms of collecting assets for the future. General manager Don Sweeney held onto his first-round draft pick this year at the trade deadline, so a first-round pick will be made this summer.

Boston does not have a pick in the second round but does have one pick in every other round, except for the seventh round where they have two selections.

July 28 – Free agency

Let the fun begin. Last season, the Bruins picked up Craig Smith in free agency in October from the Nashville Predators, but this season, they have their own big-name players they’d like to keep around. Aside from their own free agents, the Black and Gold could use help on defense and depending on what happens with Tuukka Rask, maybe a veteran in the net.

Usually, this fun happens in June, but this year with the season starting and ending later, it’s going to be a fun July.