Boston Bruins: 2 Contracts That the Bruins Are Stuck With

Every team in all sports has one or two contracts that they would like to move on from if they could. The Boston Bruins certainly know that.

The Black and Gold have two contracts that on paper look like they overpaid for a player and if they could move them they should. The problem is that their hands are tied tightly and nobody will most likely help them out.

One of the players has battled injuries and the other player came in on a trade deadline move and had a great playoff run and was rewarded for it. Now, it looks like an overpayment. Here are two contracts the Bruins are stuck with.

John Moore

The Bruins signed John Moore to a five-year, $13.75 million contract on July 1, 2018, after the left-shot defensemen had three good seasons with the New Jersey Devils. That has not been the case his three seasons in Boston.

Moore has played in just 90 games as a Bruin after averaging 72 games a season with the Devils. Moore played in five games this season, with his last appearance being February 28 against the New York Rangers. He was placed on injured reserve on March 11 with what the team called a lower-body injury.

Look, I’m not saying at the time that it was a bad signing, but as the last three seasons have gone along, injuries have hampered the 30-year-old. He has two more years with a cap hit of $2.75 million. With his injury history, don’t count on a team trading for the blueliner, but if Sweeney could somehow, someway facilitate a trade and have to eat some of the money, he should.

Charlie Coyle

When the Bruins acquired Charlie Coyle from the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline in February of 2019, he played out the string in the regular season, but took off and played a role in Boston reaching the Stanley Cup final and losing to the St. Louis Blues in seven games.

In the postseason, Coyle had nine goals and seven assists in 24 games for the Black and Gold. In November of 2019, he was rewarded with a six-year, $31.5 million contract that carries an annual average value (AAV) of $5.25 million. After this season, he has four years remaining on the contract that has a no-movement clause.

This season, Coyle struggled and played part of the season injured and tallied just six goals and 10 assists in 51 games. in 11 playoff games, he had two goals and an assist with a plus/minus of minus-8.

Coyle is a third-line center, that can play wing, but if the Bruins lose David Krejci in free agency, can he really be trusted as a second-line center? Jack Studnicka is not the answer either, but Coyle and his $5.25 million is about the only option the Bruins have unless they use Krejci’s projected money to sign a free agent. Here’s hoping that Coyle can have a bounce-back season in 2021-22. The Bruins certainly hope so too.

I’m not saying either play is bad, but it’s not their fault that Sweeney forked over some serious beans to both players, and injuries and inconsistent play have played a part for both. If the Bruins could move on from those contracts they should, but good luck finding a trade partner willing to do so.