Boston Bruins Go July 1 Bargain Shopping For Salary Cap Issues
With little cap room and a lackluster free agent class, the Bruins made some smart moves on July 1 that should keep them in the playoff hunt
The Boston Bruins were not hiding from their salary cap issues and couldn’t even if they wanted to with a handful of roster spots to fill headed into the July 1 opening of NHL free agency.
Instead, give Bruins general manager Don Sweeney credit for formulating a game plan and not stepping away from it amidst a modest salary cap bump for the 2023-24 NHL season, and a free agent class this summer that wasn’t exactly spectacular. Instead of throwing good money out in a bad situation or perhaps trading a valued asset that the Bruins really didn’t want to part with, they simply executed one cap relief trade that solved the problem while leaving the door open with flexibility to do more.
Initially, everybody thought the Bruins traded Taylor Hall to the Chicago Blackhawks to free up $6 million in salary cap space to sign Tyler Bertuzzi, who was dynamite in the playoffs and showed instant chemistry with David Pastrnak.
Well, everybody was wrong and didn’t know what Sweeney and the Bruins were ready to execute this summer.