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With cap ‘flexibility,’ Bruins not ‘closing the books’ on adding players

Cam Neely

Cam Neeley smiles at news conference where he was introduced as the new president of the Boston Bruins hockey club, Wednesday, June 16, 2010, Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

AP

They had to trade Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic to get it, but the Boston Bruins finally have some breathing room under the salary cap.

The question now is if they can take advantage.

“If we have any opportunities come up, we now have the flexibility to act on them,” club president Cam Neely told CSN New England. “If something happens now all the way through training camp where we feel we can improve our club, we have a better chance of adding without saying, ‘Okay, now who do we have to subtract?’”

With the loss of Hamilton, which came less than a year after the loss of Johnny Boychuk, the Bruins’ defense is a major question mark heading into 2015-16.

While GM Don Sweeney has called it “a great opportunity” for some of the “kids” -- and Neely doesn’t disagree -- Neely insists that “by no means are we closing the books and saying this is what we’ve got.”

Unrestricted free agents on defense include Christian Ehrhoff and Cody Franson. The former is willing to sign a one-year deal, which may be attractive. But Franson, a right shot like Hamilton and Boychuk, may be a better fit.

The Bruins are believed to have made a bid for Mike Green, also a right shot, who signed with Detroit on July 1.

Related: Sweeney explains Hamilton trade: ‘We extended Dougie a very significant contract offer’