There's Only One Way For The Bruins To Land A No. 1 Defenseman, And It Won't Be Easy
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Boston Bruins didn't have one single problem in the 2015-16 season, which ended with the team's second straight collapse out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. But there was one glaring issue that anyone who watched the Bruins could plainly see on a nightly basis: the defense.
With the sharp decline of captain Zdeno Chara and 34-year-old Dennis Seidenberg - and utter lack of depth behind them - the Bruins ended up playing all of their blueliners at minutes and matchups above their actual talent level. The top priority in the 2016 offseason, especially knowing that head coach Claude Julien is returning and owner Jeremy Jacobs still wants the team to make the playoffs without rebuilding, should be to reinforce the top of the defense - namely, a No. 1 defenseman of the future that can take the torch from Chara and fit well with Julien's system moving forward.
That's a tall task for any team in any situation, but for the Bruins in 2016, it's especially difficult, because the only way to acquire a future No. 1 defenseman right now is through restricted free agency, whether they trade for negotiation rights or sign an offer sheet. The RFA avenue is not common or easy to use to acquire good young talent, but if you want the Bruins to enter 2016-17 with a future stud atop the defensive depth chart, it is what needs to happen.
Challenges Ahead
SEE ALSO: 4 Things Don Sweeney Must Do To Get Bruins Back To Playoffs
Bruins president Cam Neely knows what's up. At Wednesday's season-ending press conference he said, "We know what our backend's all about. ... We know what we have to do to improve that area of the team."
Restricted free agents rarely sign with new teams, mainly because it's hard to make an offer that the player's current team wouldn't be willing or able to match. The last RFA to sign with a new team was winger Dustin Penner, who in 2007 signed with the Edmonton Oilers after the Anaheim Ducks declined to match his offer sheet. An offer sheet has not been signed since 2013 when the Colorado Avalanche matched the Calgary Flames' offer sheet to centerman Ryan O'Reilly.
The Bruins themselves have not signed an offer sheet since 1991 when they signed Kevin Stevens but lost him to the matching Pittsburgh Penguins. So the team may have to do something they haven't done in a quarter-century, and hasn't happened anywhere in the league in nearly a decade, to get their No. 1 defenseman of the future.
A better, but not much more feasible, option for the Bruins would be to trade for the negotiation rights to an impending RFA. They were on both sides of this kind of deal last season, when they acquired the negotiation rights to Jimmy Hayes from Florida and traded away the rights to Dougie Hamilton, Carl Soderberg, and Marc Savard to Calgary, Colorado, and Florida, respectively.
If the Bruins could pull a big trade for a pending RFA's negotiation rights prior to the draft, they'd be in the much stronger position of retaining the right to match potential offer sheets. This is the ideal position for the Bruins to put themselves in - but, as you will hear constantly in the offseason, it's no easy task.
Who's Available?
SEE ALSO: Bruins Blame Peter Chiarelli's Poor Drafting, Cap Management For Roster Woes
That being said, Bruins fans (and afternoon drive sports talk shows, to name something at random) would and should be more content with complaining about the Bruins overpaying for a talented young defenseman than failing to fill that need altogether, so let's go over who could potentially be available in a trade (or maybe even with an offer sheet) this summer. The 2016 offseason is notable for the deep class of top young defensemen coming up on the end of their rookie deals, and plenty would need to happen for all of them to stay with their current teams.
One blueliner who should already be drawing interest from Boston is the Winnipeg Jets' Jacob Trouba. The 22-year-old former ninth overall pick would fit the Bruins system perfectly as a big, physical shutdown defender, and also has the skating ability to keep up with the current trends of mobile defensemen and the league's emphasis on speed. He seeks a contract in the range of young Maple Leafs stalwart Morgan Rielly, who signed a six-year, $30 million extension with Toronto. The Bruins should be prepared to make that kind of signing for a player like Trouba.
The Bruins should also be talking to the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Ducks, who could be in need of cap space and/or draft picks this offseason. Minnesota, in particular, has over $33.9 million in cap space tied up in five players with no-movement clauses and just over $583,000 in cap space, according to Spotrac, which could leave open the possibility of trading pending RFA Matt Dumba, also a 2012 top-ten pick (seventh overall). Dumba would also fit well in the Bruins system with his physicality and nastiness, and is also one of the better skaters in the league among defensemen.
The Ducks are replete with good, young defensemen, and much has been said of pending RFA Sami Vatanen changing teams. But as an undersized (5-foot-10, 178 pounds), offensive-minded defenseman, Vatanen is not a good fit for the Bruins or Julien, who has a history of not using players with Vatanen's skill set properly. The better fit for Boston on the Ducks is 22-year-old Swede Hampus Lindholm, yet another 2012 top-ten pick about to hit restricted free agency.
The big, smooth-skating Lindholm has shutdown potential, all-around ability, and a nasty side, and could blossom into an elite blueliner very soon. However, SportsNet columnist Dimitri Filipovic, who recently wrote a column on Lindholm's value to the Ducks defense, doesn't see Anaheim letting him go elsewhere, and sees Vatanen and possibly Cam Fowler as more likely trade options.
There are also talented young defensemen from the 2013 draft class about to hit restricted free agency, including the Columbus Blue Jackets' Seth Jones and the Buffalo Sabres' Rasmus Ristolainen. It's not a safe bet that the Bruins would be able to sign any of these players to an unmatched offer sheet, or trade for them. But if they really want that future No. 1 defenseman on the roster next season, these are the options in front of them. These kinds of players don't exist right now in unrestricted free agency, and the Bruins won't find their next No. 1 defenseman in their system or the draft before next season.
The Bruins will have the draft capital, prospects, and cap space to sign their future No. 1 blueliner, but to make that happen they would have to do it in a way that is not commonly done in the NHL, and could have to give up big-time assets to make it happen. They could very well come away from this offseason empty-handed in terms of good, young defensemen, one of the league's best commodities and not something teams typically give up without bringing in a massive haul.
You may come to me after reading this and telling me that acquiring any of these kids would be impossible, or very hard to pull off without paying too much. You may be right, but you'd also essentially be accepting that the Bruins can't improve the defense the way they need to right now.
Then again, would you rather complain about the Bruins making no moves whatsoever, or overpaying for a defensive anchor?
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
