Bruins’ offseason shopping promises to be pricey

The Bruins have a lot of work to do between now and the July opening bell of free agency namely hiring a coach and drafting a athlete at No that they hope will be a foundational stone for the next era But with specific new projections for free agent salaries in recent weeks disclosed we thought we d take a quick look ahead at particular players that coould be on the B s shopping list Seeing how much the NHL salary cap is rising up from million to million in - with it rising to million in - and then how much spending money the Bruins would have after the off-loading of contracts with term for Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo it s hard not to get intrigued But tap those brakes just a bit Rebuilding or retooling choose your own verb a club through free agency is a hardly a can t-miss proposition You only have to go back to last summer to see that the B s return on million in contracts for just two players Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov was their first DNQ in nine years And last summer was a retool This summer is a lot closer to a rebuild According to puckpedia com the B s have just under million in cap space but that s with just five forwards and four defensemen on the current roster With that in mind the final projections from AFP Analytics that were just now disclosed suggest that cap space will get chewed up pretty expeditiously First off let s look at the pressing in-house business They have to sign restricted free agent Morgan Geekie and it s going to cost them After his breakout -goal season the AFP Analytics projection for him is a four-year deal for just under million The B s could take Geekie whose previous high was goals two years ago to arbitration if they don t want to go that long on term But don t expect the number to be much less than that With one more year of control over the participant GM Don Sweeney has commented definitively that Geekie will be on the band next season one way or another At forward he B s also have to make decisions on whether to bring back UFA Cole Koepke and to give qualifying offers to RFAs John Beeecher Jakub Lauko and Marat Khusnutdinov Those deals would be for shorter money but it adds up The other must-sign is defenseman Mason Lohrei also an RFA The young D-man had what can only be hoped to be a productive advance season experiencing highs and lows Playing up in the lineup because of Hampus Lindholm s knee injury the offensive-minded D-man led all Bruin blue-liners in points with - - but also absorbed a minus- There are two projections for him a two-year bridge deal for just over million a season or a six-year deal for just under million that would eat into his UFA years Considering it s still hard to know exactly what the B s have in Lohrei a short-term deal seems more palatable Still it could cost almost million just to lock up Geekie and Lohrei Once the B s dip into the unrestricted free agency field come July the prices for impact players become really inflated While there is a need for centermen the true impact ones are usually draft-and-develop players So it s no surprise that Sweeney mentioned at the season-ending presser that he ll be in search of wings At the top of the sphere for forwards if he chooses to leave Toronto is Mitch Marner The projection for the -year-old right wing in the prime of his career is a whopper a seven-year deal worth just under million per which would eclipse David Pastrnak s million salary at the top of the squad salary structure We have our doubts that the B s would be the the greater part attractive landing spot for Marner who exactly would he play with but he s as close to a slam-dunk signing as there is out there Over the last seven years he s averaged points per battle with this season being his personal best - - He may not be a perfect player Toronto coach Craig Berube is lamenting his hesitance to shoot sound familiar but he s an all-situations wing that you can pencil in for - points every year If they had one hole to fill Marner would be the guy to target Unfortunately there are multiple holes At the next tier down there are a couple of legitimate top-six wings but they will still be pricey Brock Boeser who had goals two years ago for the Canucks is projected to garner a six-year deal worth million a season That seems pretty high for a athlete who has only cracked goals just once but he is in the prime of his career at and well this is the cost of doing business near the top of the area There is also the Jets Nikolaj Ehlers who at has four -plus point seasons under his belt including this year - - His projection Six years at million Yowza There are particular enthralling players that are projected to go at a more bargain rate and one is known to B s fans Ryan Donato on his fourth gang since being dealt to Minnesota for Coyle picked a great time to have a career year posting - - totals doubling his previous career high of points The -year-old Donato is projected to get a three-year deal with an AAV of million The Hurricanes Jack Roslovic projection three years at million wasn t as prolific as Donato but he did put up goals for the second time in his career And what about Brad Marchand Various fans still harbor hopes that the captain will return but the vibe in the dressing room from management and even Marchand himself when he spoke in Boston shortly after the agreement was that though no doors were closed it was time to move on now the Band-Aid was ripped off But interestingly AFP Analytics projection for a Marchand deal is down from where they had him at mid-season which was three years at just over million a season Now despite the jump he s shown in the Panthers playoff run albeit as a third-liner the projection is two years at million With the Panthers deadlocked - in a great series with Toronto the -year-old Marchand still has time to prove he s got a lot more in the tank and more earning power While the B s have gotten kudos for the return on the Carlo contract they still have to replace him on the back end UFA Henri Jokiharju still just filled in competently after being acquired at the deadline and identified particular chemistry with Zadorov He s projected to get a three-year deal at million Nate Schmidt has unveiled a career boost in Florida and he might be able to be had for two years at million Other right defense possibilities are -year-old Brent Burns projection one year million -one-year Cody Ceci x million and -year-old Nick Perbix x million At the top of the region is Florida s Aaron Ekblad projection x million but it s hard to picture the B s forking over for a deal like that for the -year-old Ekblad with milllion already tied up in Charlie McAvoy Hampus Lindholm and Zadorov Lastly for the B s fans who are pining for the crew to sign an RFA to an offer sheet the compensation packages for such endeavors were published on Tuesday Everyone is hot and heavy for Toronto wing Matthew Knies The starting point for Knies would allegedly start in the - offer tier which would cost a first a second and a third-round pick The next tier up to would cost a two firsts a second and a third Anything higher than that would cost four first-rounders Like most of teams the B s have been reluctant to go the offer sheet passage but the B s do have selected draft capital They have an extra first rounder in from Toronto in the Carlo deal top-five protected and possibly another extra one in if the Panthers advance to the next round They have to use their own picks for an offer sheet No matter whom they lure this summer the - Bruins should look vastly different from the one that finished -