Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney is willing to sit out the first round of this year's draft if the right deal comes along.
With clear and pressing needs on the left side of the ice at both forward and defense, Sweeney would not be averse to trading the 18th overall pick.
"It’s an effort to try and improve our hockey club," Sweeney said Friday at the NHL scouting combine, per Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald. "We have had a number of selections the last couple of years and we feel that they’ll all materialize into very good players for the Boston Bruins and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t explore what could improve our hockey club now in the shorter term. I owe it to our players and the organization to continue to do that."
The Bruins have made five first-round picks over the course of the past two drafts, but each of those players has yet to make their regular-season NHL debuts.
Defenseman Charlie McAvoy - selected 14th overall in 2016 - was pressed into playoff action this year and is expected to be in the lineup come October, but whether the other four picks - defenseman Jakub Zboril and forwards Jake DeBrusk, Zach Senyshyn, and Trent Frederic - can contribute next season remains to be seen.
"We have areas that we think internally we can address, or we hope to be able to address with the growth of our own players," Sweeney continued. “(But) I want to look for a player who can help us improve our club. There’s a couple of areas that I think we can and that’s what I’d be willing to do. Impact (at left wing), impact on the back end. To me, I want a player that moves our club further along."
Further along would mean building on a first-round playoff exit and returning to the status of Stanley Cup contenders.
According to Cap Friendly, the Bruins have six selections to make in this year's draft, with no picks in the third and fifth rounds.
With the offseason underway for a number of teams, with the remainder to join them in a few weeks, we're looking at what's in store for each club in the coming months.
Considering the club is only one year removed from finishing with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference with a disappointing 76 points, the Blue Jackets' 2016-17 campaign was downright spectacular.
Columbus bounced back in a big way, finishing third in the East with 108 points and qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Fun fact: Columbus finished with the same amount of regulation victories as the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins, the same team it would bow out to in the first round of the playoffs.
In short, the Jackets' success this season can be broken down into two simple yet effective parts: The Vezina-caliber goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, and the superb play of a young core of forwards that lit the NHL on fire.
Bob has been doing his thing in Columbus since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season in which he won the Vezina Trophy, and although leading the league in GAA (2.06) and save percentage (.931) is impressive, the 28-year-old Russian's amazing year was slightly overshadowed by the play of a trio of young stars.
Atkinson potted 35 goals, Wennberg finished second in team scoring with 59 points, and Werenski - at just 19 years old - racked up 11 goals, 36 assists, and a Calder Trophy nomination.
Yeah, the future is pretty bright in Columbus.
Free Agents
The focus of general manager Jarmo Kekalainen's offseason will most likely take place up the middle, where Wennberg and veteran Sam Gagner (who also plays the wing) are the most notable free agents.
Gagner is coming off, arguably, his best season in the NHL, setting a career high in points with 50 and matching a career high in goals with 18 - and he will have teams interested in acquiring his services.
Player (Position)
2017-18 Status
Age
2016-17 Cap Hit
'16-17 Points
Sam Gagner (F)
UFA
27
$650K
50
Lauri Korpikoski (F)
UFA
30
$1M
0
Josh Anderson (F)
RFA
22
$678333
29
Alexander Wennberg (F)
RFA
22
$925K
59
Kyle Quincey (D)
UFA
31
$1.25M
3
In the blue paint, backup 'tender Joonas Korpisalo is in line for a raise.
The 23-year-old Finn impressed in 13 starts in relief of Bobrovsky, going 7-5 with one shutout and a respectable 2.88 GAA.
Goalie
2017-18 Status
Age
2016-17 Cap Hit
'16-17 SV%
Joonas Korpisalo
RFA
23
$742500
.905
Anton Forsberg
RFA
24
$650K
.852
2017 Draft Picks
The Blue Jackets hold six picks in the upcoming entry draft, but selecting 24th overall in the first round and not having a second-round pick will make for an interesting draft day for Kekalainen.
Columbus' second-round selection was sent to the Vancouver Canucks as compensation for the John Tortorella signing.
Round
Picks
1
1
2
0
3
1
4
1
5
1
6
1
7
1
Summer Priorities
1. Keep Korpisalo
Finishing second-best in total goals against shouldn't lead to a team addressing its goalie situation, but this is one of those problems the Blue Jackets are happy to have.
As mentioned above, Korpisalo offers a level of quality between the pipes that most clubs long for at the backup position. Bobrovsky is nasty and definitely worthy of another Vezina nod, but you can never have too many quality players on your roster.
Especially in the crease.
2. Let Gagner walk
Sure, he's coming off an excellent renaissance-type year, but does anyone actually expect him to repeat that level of success?
Didn't think so.
With so much talent on the horizon and a lengthier list of free agents coming next offseason, the Jackets' front office would be wise to let Gagner walk now in order to retain cap space and allow for the potential to lock down bigger names like Atkinson or Boone Jenner next year.
3. Address the blue line
Columbus allowed the second-fewest goals against last season, Bobrovsky is all world, and of course, Seth Jones is a stud. But after that, the Jackets don't have much on the back end to be excited about.
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)
Gabriel Carlsson and Markus Nutivaara provide some intrigue and both have flashed the potential to be contributing parts of Columbus' future. But, guys like Jack Johnson and Kyle Quincey need to be upgraded on if the Jackets ever want to get past the first round.
Moving one of their many young and talented forwards such as Oliver Bjorkstrand may offer the kind of return that Tortorella and Kekalainen are searching for.
2017-18 Outlook
After last campaign's 108-point showing, the pressure will be on next season in central Ohio.
Columbus got dealt with in the first round this year, but come on, they were playing Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. Next season will be very different; with success comes expectations, and those in Blue Jackets territory will be demanding a lot more from this young club.
So much so, that a first-round exit in 2018 will be deemed a failure.
But, realistically, this team is bursting at the seams with talent and if Tortorella can work his magic once again, there is absolutely no reason for Columbus not to be competing next May.
But the Montreal Canadiens GM has at least one supporter in Brian Burke, the Calgary Flames' president of hockey operations, who says it's not right to shovel blame on Bergevin.
"Marc Bergevin has done a great job in Montreal," Burke told TSN 690 on Thursday. "He's a great person and it's ridiculous the attacks that he's undergoing right now. It's absurd."
Needless to say, the Canadiens' playoff run wasn't nearly as successful as Nashville's. Montreal was bounced in six games by the New York Rangers after kicking off the season with an impressive 13-1-1 showing.
But the disappointing finish doesn't all trace back to the deal that made Shea Weber a Canadien, according to Burke.
"(Bergevin) is one of the great judges of talent in the modern era," he added. "There's a handful of guys that can really watch games and pick players out. He's one of them, Rick Dudley's one of them, Bob Murray's one of them."
Dudley serves as Bergevin's assistant GM in Montreal, while Murray has been at the Anaheim Ducks' helm since 2008. Bergevin himself joined the Canadiens in 2012, after spending one year as assistant GM of the Chicago Blackhawks.
"What's haunting him here is the progression of Nashville through the playoffs. Nashville is not winning because of P.K. Subban alone," Burke said. "The notion Shea Weber for P.K. wasn't a good deal because P.K. is still playing, how does that work?"
Bergevin has five years remaining on his contract with the Canadiens, and putting together a winning squad sooner rather than later would go a long way toward quieting the current concerns.
It's apparently a coin flip as far as Valeri Nichushkin's future is concerned.
"He's in Russia now and it's 50-50 on whether we get him back next season," Dallas Stars director of amateur scouting Joe McDonnell told NHL.com's Mike Morreale at the scouting combine Friday.
"In the end it'll be up to him if he wants to come back."
Nichushkin spent this season with CSKA Moscow in the KHL, notching 24 points in 36 regular-season games and adding five points in nine playoff contests.
The 22-year-old signed a two-year deal with the Russian club last September, but the Stars retained his NHL rights and will have them until he's eligible for unrestricted free agency in about five years.
"(If he does return), coach Ken Hitchcock and him will have to forge a relationship," McDonnell said. "If you watch Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, that's what a Val Nichushkin can be in the end. But it's whether he has it in his heart. If he wants to do it, he can do it. It'd be huge for our franchise if we can get him back."
Stars general manager Jim Nill said in March that the young winger will likely be protected in the upcoming expansion draft later this month.
Nichushkin spent three seasons with the Stars after they drafted him 10th overall in 2013, missing all but eight NHL games in 2014-15 with a hip injury and managing only 23 goals and 64 points in his first 166 contests.
He represented Russia at last month's World Championship, collecting three assists in six games.
Captain Serious is ready to talk about the issues.
Chicago Blackhawks leader Jonathan Toews took to Instagram on Friday to voices his thoughts on climate change, writing: "Whether you're super pumped that we are putting 'Americans first' or you are absolutely outraged at the idea that we are taking yet another step backwards in dealing with a major global problem, the only way to solve this argument is to try and set your own agenda aside and see how this affects everybody."
Toews' post comes one day after the U.S. government pulled its support of the Paris Accord, an international agreement aimed at reducing global warming and greenhouse gas emissions.
"The only lie we tell ourselves is that we are more special than other life forms on the planet," the post continues. "Well, we're not. Even if we weren't responsible for any major climate catastrophes heading our way, shouldn't we still do our part to preserve what we have left?"
It's not the first time Toews used social media to voice his opinions, taking to Twitter last year to talk about the benefits of growing your own food.
The Anaheim Ducks signed the head coach to a one-year contract extension through the 2018-19 campaign with an option for 2019-20, the club announced Friday.
Carlyle guided the Ducks to the Western Conference Final after leading them to their fifth consecutive Pacific Division title in his first season back behind the Anaheim bench.
"We made great strides this past season and clearly Randy was at the center of that," Ducks general manager Bob Murray said in a statement. "He's committed to this organization and to winning another Stanley Cup. Extending his contract was an easy decision for us."
Carlyle is the franchise's all-time leader in coaching wins with 319 victories in 598 regular-season games, 516 of which came in his first stint with the organization from 2005 to 2011.
The Ducks also announced Friday that assistant coaches Trent Yawney and Rich Preston will also be back next season, as will Todd Marchant, the team's director of player development and special projects.
"Nobody has really talked about it, to be honest," Crosby told reporters Friday. "I think we know that this time of year, there's no shortage of motivation. I think going into this situation, we expect their best game. We expect a desperate team. It's not something we've discussed. I think at this point you're motivated enough. We know we've got to be ready for tomorrow."
Subban guaranteed his Nashville Predators would win Game 3 after a 4-1 loss in Game 2 on Wednesday night, doubling down on the statement Friday by saying he feels even more confident about a win after a night of rest.
Crosby and the Penguins won the first two games of the championship round, but he says there are still areas in which he can improve.
"I've got to win more faceoffs," he said Friday. "That will go a long way for our possession. ... It comes down to execution. We have to be patient."
Crosby was 10-for-29 in the faceoff circle in Game 2 after going 16-for-27 in Game 1.
Game 3 goes Saturday night as the series shifts to Tennessee.
