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WATCH LIVE: Bruins host Blues in Stanley Cup Final rematch

By Sean LeahyOct 26, 2019, 6:30 PM EDT

NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Saturday’s Stanley Cup Final rematch between the St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

The Blues went their first 50 NHL seasons without a Cup before winning it in their 51st season. That leaves Toronto as the team with the longest active drought, and Buffalo and Vancouver as the teams with the longest drought among teams that have never won before.

Boston has not played since beating Toronto 4-2 at home on Tuesday. So, they’ve had three days off with no travel in between games. On the other hand, St. Louis hosted LA on Thursday, winning, 5-2, for its second straight victory, before traveling to play in Boston.

Vladimir Tarasenko, who is coming off his 5th straight 30-goal campaign, left Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury. He is out for their next two games and will be re-evaluated next week. Tarasenko has 10 points in 10 games this season.

Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak continues to be the team’s primary source of offense. They are the top three scorers on the team, and aside from solid production from d-man Torey Krug, no one else on the team has more than three points so far.

In the team’s last game on Tuesday, Tuukka Rask played in his 500th regular-season game. He is the 28th goalie in history to play 500 games for one team, and the first to do so with the Bruins.

David Krejci (upper body) is doubtful to play against the Blues after skating with the team on Friday. Krejci, who is coming off a career year in which he set a personal best in assists (53) and tied his high in points (73), has missed the last three games after suffering an injury against Anaheim on Oct. 14.

[WATCH LIVE – COVERAGE BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET – NBCSN]

What: St. Louis Blues at Boston Bruins
Where: TD Garden
When: Saturday, Oct. 26, 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: NBCSN
Live stream: You can watch the Blues-Bruins stream on NBC Sports’ live stream page and the NBC Sports app.

PROJECTED LINEUPS

BLUES
Jaden Schwartz – Brayden Schenn – Oskar Sundqvist
Alex Steen – Ryan O'Reilly – David Perron
Zach Sanford – Tyler Bozak – Robert Thomas
Mackenzie MacEachern – Ivan Barbashev – Sammy Blais

Colton Parayko – Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester – Justin Faulk
Vince Dunn – Robert Bortuzzo

Starting goalie: Jordan Binnington

BRUINS
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk – Charlie Coyle – Brett Ritchie
Anders Bjork – Par Lindholm – Danton Heinen
Joakim Nordstrom – Sean Kuraly – Chris Wagner

Zdeno Chara – Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk – Connor Clifton

Starting goalie: Tuukka Rask

Mike Emrick, Mike Milbury and Brian Boucher will call Blues-Bruins from TD Garden in Boston, Mass. Kathryn Tappen will anchor Saturday’s doubleheader coverage with Keith Jones and Anson Carter.

After Bruins-Blues, coverage heads outdoors to Mosaic Stadium in Regina, Saskatchewan, at 10 p.m. ET (livestream), when Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets face Johnny Gaudreau and the Calgary Flames in the 2019 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic.

Big winners of the NHL’s restricted free agent signing period

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By Adam GretzSep 29, 2019, 3:36 PM EDT

With Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, and Mikko Rantanen all signing new contract extensions this weekend, the NHL’s summer-long restricted free agency drama has come to a mostly anticlimactic end.

All the top players stayed where they were supposed to stay, nobody unexpected ended up getting traded, no additional offer sheets were actually signed, and the only big development was the shift by players to opt for shorter-term bridge deals instead of max long-term contracts.

Now that everyone is signed for the start of the 2019-20 season (which starts Wednesday night with Blues-Caps at 7 pm on NBCSN), let’s take a look at some of the big winners from the RFA signing period.

Teams that won big

Tampa Bay Lightning. Brayden Point‘s three-year deal is a massive short-term win for the Lightning. They entered the offseason facing a salary cap crunch but still managed to get one of their top players — Point — re-signed without really having to do anything significant to the rest of the roster. At a salary cap hit of just a little more than $6 million per season for the next three years the Lightning have a steal in Point given the way he blends elite offense and Selke caliber defense. Having a core player that good, signed for that cheap, is a huge advantage to a contender whose championship window remains wide open.

Boston Bruins. This looked like it was going to be a tricky situation for Don Sweeney at the beginning of the summer as he had to try to re-sign top defenders Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, as well as forward Danton Heinen, all while having limited wiggle room under the cap. He managed to get all three players signed for a combined cap hit of under $11 million per season. Not bad. McAvoy should have a monster contract coming his way when his current deal ends, but a lot current money will be off the books by then.

San Jose Sharks. Timo Meier‘s contract (four years, $24 million) was the big one this summer and looks like a perfectly fair deal for both sides. Meier very well could end up outperforming that deal before it’s done, but he will still be young enough to secure another significant contract. But getting Kevin Labanc signed for just $1 million for this season after his 17-goal, 56-point season was a really nice bonus for the Sharks. He is betting on himself, but in the short-term the Sharks are getting a huge advantage this season with some additional cap flexibility as they try to get Joe Thornton his Stanley Cup ring.

Carolina Hurricanes. They won at the very beginning of the summer when the Montreal Canadiens signed Sebastian Aho to a five-year offer sheet. The Hurricanes easily matched it, got their franchise player signed, and the whole process helped them to avoid all of the drama and stress that every other team had to deal with in trying to negotiate a deal. That is a win.

Players that won big

Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs. He managed to get a six-year deal out of the Maple Leafs that averages just under $11 million per year. The breakdown of the contract will pay him $41 million over the first three years, including $31 million in the first two years and $16 million this season. It is, by far, the biggest of all the RFA deals signed this summer and when compared to the deals signed by Point and Rantanen (two players that are not only similar to him, but maybe even better) it is a huge win for him to get pretty much exactly what he wanted.

Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia Flyers. Provorov has No. 1 defender potential and the Flyers definitely treat him like a No. 1 defender, but he has not yet consistently played at a level to justify all of that. Despite that, he still managed to get a six-year, $40.5 million contract this summer. That is significantly larger than the deals signed by McAvoy and Zach Werenski (Columbus), both of whom are probably already better than Provorov. If he becomes the player the Flyers think he can be, it will be a fine contract. But he has to become that player first.

Jacob Trouba, New York Rangers. He managed to get out of Winnipeg (something that seemed inevitable for a couple of years now) thanks to a trade to the New York Rangers where he signed a huge seven-year, $56 million contract, complete with a no-move clause and trade protections. Of the major RFA defenders this offseason (Trouba, McAvoy, Provorov, Zach Werenski) this is by far the biggest contract signed. That $8 million per year cap hit is also tied for the fifth largest among all defenders in the NHL. Is he that good? Trouba is a fine player and will make the Rangers’ defense better, but that is a huge investment in a player that is probably best suited to be a No. 2 defender on a contending team. Risky move for the Rangers, but a huge win for the player across the board.

More RFA signing news:
Jets lock up Connor with seven-year contract
Avalanche avoid breaking bank with Rantanen’s contract
Jets come to short-term agreement with Laine

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

Bruins get yet another bargain with Carlo’s 2-year deal

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By Adam GretzSep 17, 2019, 9:21 AM EDT
3 Comments

Another day, another team-friendly contract handed out by the Boston Bruins.

After re-signing Charlie McAvoy to a bargain three-year contract over the weekend, the Bruins announced on Tuesday morning that they have re-signed restricted free agent defender Brandon Carlo to a two-year deal that will pay him $2.85 million per season.

Carlo was the last of the Bruins’ restricted free agents and his signing wraps up a fairly successful summer for the team’s front office.

The Bruins managed to get McAvoy, Carlo, and Danton Heinen (their three RFA’s) re-signed for a combined salary cap hit of $10.5 million. Given how important all three players figure to be (and especially the first two) that is a major win for the team. They will no doubt be looking at significant pay raises when all of these bridge deals expire in a couple of years, but in the short-term it allows the Bruins to keep together a Stanley Cup caliber team while also having the flexibility to add to it later in the year. With Carlo’s deal complete the Bruins still have around $1.15 million in salary cap space, via CapFriendly.

Carlo is not going to provide much offense from the blue line, but he is one of the team’s steadiest defensive players and a valuable part of their blue line.

MORE:
• Bruins get another major bargain contract with Charlie McAvoy
• ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule

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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.

It’s Boston Bruins Day at PHT

By Sean LeahyAug 3, 2019, 11:00 AM EDT

Each day in the month of August we’ll be examining a different NHL team — from looking back at last season to discussing a player under pressure to identifying X-factors to asking questions about the future. Today we look at the Boston Bruins. 

2018-19
49-24-9 107 points (2nd in Atlantic Division, 2nd in Eastern Conference)
Playoffs: Lost Stanley Cup Final in seven games to Blues

IN
Brett Ritchie
Par Lindholm
Brendan Gaunce
Maxime Lagace

OUT
Marcus Johansson
Noel Acciari
Lee Stempniak
Jordan Szwarz
Gemel Smith
Zane MacIntyre

RE-SIGNED
Danton Heinen
Peter Cehlarik
Connor Clifton
Steven Kampfer
Ryan Fitzgerald

2018-19 Season Summary

One more win, that’s all they needed. The Bruins fought off the Blues in Game 6 to force a do-or-die game in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately for them, eight years after they won a Game 7 to top the Vancouver Canucks for the title, they fell short in a 4-1 defeat to St. Louis.

The loss put a sour note on an otherwise great season for the Bruins. They finished tied with the Calgary Flames for the second-most points in the NHL during the regular season. Brad Marchand stayed out of trouble for the most part and recorded a career-high 100 points. David Pastrnak, while playing only 66 games, topped his previous career marks with 38 goals and 81 points. Jake DeBrusk scored a career high 27 goals, and Patrice Bergeron, in his 15th NHL season hit a personal best 79 points and tied his career high in goals with 32. With a lighter workload (46 appearances), Tuukka Rask posted his best even strength save percentage (.925) in five seasons, and the power play clicked at 25.9%, the best success rate the franchise has seen since 1980-81 (25.4%). 

Basically, everything went pretty swimmingly in 2018-19 for the Bruins. Head coach Bruce Cassidy continued the success that started after he replaced Claude Julien in Feb. 2017. Since that time the team has a 61% win percentage (117-52-22) and have accumulated the second-most points (256) in the NHL.

[MORE BRUINS: X-Factor | Under Pressure | Three questions]

So it was no surprise the Bruins cruised through the regular season and played their way into Cup contender status as the playoffs began. Waiting for them in Round 1 were the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were vanquished yet again in seven games for the third time in seven seasons. Next, the Cinderella Columbus Blue Jackets were ousted in six games after taking a 2-1 series lead. In the Eastern Conference Final, the other surprise team, the Carolina Hurricanes, were swept, putting Boston in the Cup Final for the 20th time in franchise history.

There were few good moments for the Bruins in the final series against the Blues, one was the return of Zdeno Chara to the lineup in Game 5 at TD Garden after breaking his jaw.

But now as they rest up with a short summer in preparation to get back to the Cup Final and win it, the Bruins’ roster won’t be drastically different, at least at the start of the season. A cap crunch and needing to re-sign two important pieces on the blue line has kept general manager Don Sweeney from going out and adding big names to the lineup.

The offseason has been quiet, aside from some minor additions and a few departures. Atop Sweeney’s to-do list is to re-sign restricted free agents Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. There’s currently a little over $7 million in cap room and it’s a question if one or both will still be unsigned when training camp opens next month. There’s plenty of confidence both will get extensions given that McAvoy is ineligible for an offer sheet, and while Carlo is eligible, NHL GMs have shown a general dislike in using them.

MORE: ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

Bruins face salary cap juggling act with McAvoy, Carlo

By James O'BrienJul 11, 2019, 5:55 PM EDT
5 Comments

The Boston Bruins fell one win short of spoiling Boston sports fans with yet another championship, but as long as key players don’t age too poorly, there’s a strong chance that they’ll be a contender again in 2019-20.

Even with some deft cap management – David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand ranked first and second in a top 10 best contracts list from The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn (sub required) – the Bruins face a snug salary cap situation, both before 2019-20 begins and beyond.

Most immediately, they have already-star defenseman Charlie McAvoy and solid blueliner Brandon Carlo to deal with as RFAs. After re-signing Danton Heinen, things are getting pretty tight:

It’s easy to justify McAvoy as a $7M defenseman alone, so this is a challenge.

That said, the Bruins can force open some extra daylight. In projecting the Bruins’ 2019-20 lineup, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa points out that, with David Backes‘ clause changing from no-movement to no-trade, the Bruins could enjoy mild cap relief if they sent Backes to the AHL.

It would indeed be mild, though, as it would save Boston a bit more than $1M, but every bit might count.

If they really want true breathing room, the Bruins should wrestle with the best ways to handle that full Backes $6M cap hit, which expires after 2020-21.

To be specific, Boston needs to think long and hard about bribing a rebuilding team like the Ottawa Senators or Detroit Red Wings to take on that burden, at the cost of picks and/or prospects from Boston. Would it be worth it to get rid of Backes’ contract even if it cost something similar to Toronto burning a first-round pick to get Patrick Marleau off of the books? That would sting, but let’s be honest: the Bruins certainly are planning for that first-rounder to be a mediocre pick, if not one at the end of 2020.

There’s actually an especially devious way to handle that.

The Bruins could make like a sweaty, flustered businessman and show their emptied pockets to Charlie McAvoy, thus keeping his cap hit down. The Sharks played that card brilliantly with Kevin Labanc, and it sure felt like something similar happened with Torey Krug on his current deal, as he was clearly worth more than $5.25M, even as early as June 2016.

After signing McAvoy (and to a lesser priority, Carlo), the Bruins then can truly ramp up their efforts to move the Backes deal, so that they can line up some of that Backes money to re-sign Krug, who is in line for a significant raise from $5.25M after his current contract expires following the 2019-20 season.

Ideally, for the Bruins, they could lock McAvoy to a bargain contract akin to that of Marchand and Pastrnak, as McAvoy is absolutely a star, and then eventually keep the sometimes-underrated Krug in the fold.

Maybe that means stomaching a painful price to get rid of Backes, and perhaps that means that Boston won’t be able to keep some nice pieces like Charlie Coyle and Carlo around much longer. The luxury of having $2.75M to spend on a quality backup/platoon goalie like Jaroslav Halak might run out soon, too. As dominant as the top line with Patrice Bergeron can be, the Bruins truly took off when the Coyles of the world were able to provide support. Boston might not enjoy that level of depth very long.

This management group already extended a competitive window that sure felt like it was closing toward the end of the Chiarelli era, though, and there’s room to work with to wedge it open even longer. Doing so might require some cleverness, and maybe swallowing some pride to get rid of that Backes mistake, though.

MORE

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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.