The Bruins were busy on Day 1 of free agency, making a slew of signings and completing a trade with the Edmonton Oilers to acquire Viktor Arvidsson.
While Boston didn’t sign a big-name player or really address its need for a high-volume scorer, the franchise still received a “B” grade from ESPN despite the “eye-opening” move to sign Tanner Jeannot to a five-year contract.
“That’s a sizable investment in a third-line (at best) skater who will carry a $3.4 million AAV until he’s 33,” Ryan S. Clark and Kristen Shilton wrote. “He’s physical and feisty. But the Bruins need real scoring help (only two players on their roster finished last season with more than 20 goals), and it’s not clear that Sweeney was able to accomplish that so far.”
During the 2021-22 season, Jeannot scored 24 goals and added 17 assists for the Nashville Predators. He also had 318 hits and 130 penalty minutes. Since then, he hasn’t been able to replicate that kind of success. But NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed on his “32 Thoughts” podcast that the competition was “fierce” for Jeannot, and the Bruins wanted to bring him in to add extra physicality to the lineup so Nikita Zadorov — who led the NHL in penalty minutes last season — could take on less of that role.
The Bruins also added Sean Kuraly — who spent his first five NHL seasons in Boston — Michael Eyssimont, Matěj Blümel and Alex Steeves. Despite how busy general manager Don Sweeney was, ESPN pointed out that a true top-six winger wasn’t acquired.
“Instead GM Don Sweeney bolstered the Bruins’ bottom six with a number of players, some of whom probably will have to play higher in the lineup at some point anyway,” ESPN wrote.
Along with the free agency signings, the Bruins also have young players in Fabian Lysell, Georgii Merkulov and Matt Poitras who will by fighting for a roster spot this summer during training camp.
It will be interesting to see how new coach Marco Sturm constructs his lines and what decisions Sweeney makes throughout camp to build the Opening Night roster.