Get out your checkbooks!
Welcome to a new week, folks!
First things first: Happy Canada Day to everyone north of the border! May your day be filled with head-scratching contracts.
Did June seem to just fly by, or was that only me? Seems like a few days ago that I was writing “the first weekend in June is here” and now here we are in July.
Free agency begins today at noon Eastern time, as contracts will be handed out like Halloween candy over the course of the day.
Last year, the Bruins signed approximately 83 guys, ranging from the “good signing, Don” (James van Riemsdyk, Parker Wotherspoon) to the forgettable (Milan Lucic).
The Bruins have somewhere in the neighborhood of $24 million in cap space available, part of which will be set aside for Jeremy Swayman.
Center? Scoring help? Defensive depth? All of the above?
I guess we’ll find out.
To allow you fine folks a place to discuss all of today’s happenings, we set up this Public Skate instead of our normal Morning Skate.
While it’s not as big of a deal as it used to be, don’t forget to double-check those Twitter handles when reading about today’s big scoop.
A few big moves have been made (or are rumored as of Sunday night) already, including:
- The Sabres buying out Jeff Skinner
- The Oilers buying out Jack Campbell
- Jake Guentzel’s rights getting traded to Tampa, where he is reportedly signing an extension
- Max Domi signing a last-minute extension with the Maple Leafs
- Those same Maple Leafs acquiring the rights to Chris Tanev
It should be a busy day, one that has a big more intrigue than last summer.
On July 1, 2023, we all knew the Bruins would be shopping strictly at Dollar Tree; this year, they have some cash to spend.
Choose wisely, Don.
We’ll try to keep you posted on whatever the B’s choose to do today, but until then…discuss.