When the time comes, how do the Bruins intend to replace Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci? - The Boston Globe
If Don Sweeney’s recent transaction history is any indication, his next franchise pillar could arrive via a trade and be handed a contract extension.
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Maybe not this summer. Maybe not the next. At some point, however, the Bruins will have to replace Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. To do that, while staying in win-now mode, will be one of the heaviest lifts possible for an NHL general manager.
If Don Sweeney’s recent transaction history is any indication, his next franchise pillar could arrive via a trade and be handed a contract extension.
While every GM in the league wants to build via the draft-and-develop method, no one is pulling off the trade-and-extend move like Sweeney. In the last two years, he added prime-aged Taylor Hall, Hampus Lindholm, and most recently Pavel Zacha to supplement the veteran core of Bergeron, Krejci, and Brad Marchand.
Three core pieces signed through at least 2025, when Hall’s deal expires. Zacha (2027) and Lindholm (2030) are in Boston longer.
If the Bruins re-sign David Pastrnak — no minor piece of business, that — and restricted free agent Jeremy Swayman, that group and Charlie McAvoy (2030), plus netminder Linus Ullmark (2025), is a playoff-competitive group. If Bergeron and/or Krejci has another year or two left, so much the better.
Adding another center via trade-and-extend would be ideal. Think: Dylan Larkin.
The Red Wings captain and Michigan native, who turns 27 in July, is on an expiring $5.25 million deal. One of the league’s fastest skaters — as a rookie in 2016, he set the All-Star Weekend record for quickest lap (13.172 seconds) — Larkin is a threat to hit 30 goals for the third time in his eight-year career (15-28–43 through 47 games).
Is Larkin the No. 1 center on a championship contender? With the right players around him, quite possibly. Look at Lindholm, whose stock dipped in Anaheim as the Ducks flew south into lottery land. He went from overtaxed player on a struggling team, to co-lead dog with McAvoy. Not surprisingly, that has worked out well for the Bruins.
Asked if he can see himself as part of the Red Wings’ future, Larkin said he could.
But he made it clear that he wants to win.
“As the captain of the team,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “I don’t really take that role lightly. I take great pride in how I carry myself. There’s been some very difficult days . . . difficult seasons. In those days, there’s times where I haven’t really . . . I feel like maybe I haven’t been able to play on a good team, which would also help me, you know, playing with other great players.
“I’ve said it all along and I stand by it: I see myself as a Red Wing.”
Maybe Sweeney could interest Red Wings boss Steve Yzerman in the kind of deal he made for Lindholm: Sweeney got the player at 50 percent of his salary-cap hit (half of approximately $5.2 million), plus a prospect (Kodie Curran), in exchange for a first-round pick, two second-round picks, a prospect (defenseman Urho Vaakanainen), and the contract of John Moore.
With some minor juggling, the Bruins could add Larkin’s cap hit for the remainder of this season. To fit him on the roster going forward, salary would need to move.
The Bruins have six forwards on one-way deals (Marchand, Hall, Zacha, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, and A.J. Greer) committed next season. Their defense corps is set, with only Connor Clifton’s $1 million expiring. Ullmark and Swayman have been the league’s best goalie tandem.
“It’s a tough situation for management to gauge how much of the future you want to sacrifice to win now, but obviously it’s exciting with the group we have,” Marchand said during the Bruins’ recent stop in Toronto. “I would assume, just with the way we’re playing, they’re going to try to do something. But it all depends on the ask, what teams want and what we’re willing to give up. That’s not my job, luckily, because it’s tough.
“You see it every year. Teams that make big trades, it doesn’t necessarily help them come playoff time. And some teams that make moves, it does. So, we’ll see how it plays out.”
