Bruins notebook: Takeaways from Don Sweeney’s pre-draft press conference

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney met with reporters in Las Vegas on Thursday ahead of the NHL Draft, which begins Friday night with the first round and continues Saturday with rounds two through seven.

It was the first time Sweeney spoke since he traded Linus Ullmark to the Ottawa Senators earlier this week in a deal that got Boston back into the first round of the draft for the first time in three years.

Here are six takeaways from Sweeney’s media availability:

1. Goalie Bob’s new project

The most surprising part of the Ullmark trade was that the Bruins took on goalie Joonas Korpisalo, who is coming off a terrible season and has four years left on his contract. Boston is on the hook for $3 million per year, with Ottawa retaining 25% of his salary.

It seems that taking back Korpisalo was the only way the Bruins were going to get a first-round pick, although Sweeney obviously can’t and won’t admit that. If you take Sweeney at his word, the Bruins are at least saying that they believe they can get Korpisalo’s game back on track and have him be a valuable backup to Jeremy Swayman.

That will be a project for goalie coach Bob Essensa, who has a 20-year track record of getting the most out of just about every goalie who’s come through Boston.

“Joonas obviously has been a high-level goaltender,” Sweeney said, “and Bob did a lot of work with Joonas and when he played his best hockey in L.A. and then being able to translate it into our hockey club.

“…I think we feel very comfortable with him as a complement and the guy that can push, because we feel that there's more ground for him to get back to when he played his best hockey. We did that in years past when Jaro [Halak] came onto our team. … It’s a projection, but I think we feel comfortable in terms of stylistically, the competitiveness in the goaltender, and Bob doing his work on how he projects into our lineup.”

Sweeney did go out of his way to mention Brandon Bussi, though, indicating that the backup job will not just be handed to Korpisalo and that the 25-year-old Bussi will get the chance to compete for it.

“I don't want to lose sight of Brandon in the sense that he's paid his dues,” Sweeney said. “He wants his opportunity in the National Hockey League. If he beats out, in this case in all likelihood Joonas, then we'll have to give him the opportunity. He requires waivers [to be sent to Providence], so it's part of the cycle of all the players when they start to mature and an opportunity presents. Then we’ll have to make a tough decision.”

As for Swayman, Sweeney unsurprisingly made it clear that getting him locked up on an extension remains his priority. He said he hopes to get that done before free agency begins on Monday, but that there’s no hard deadline. He ruled out any possibility of trading Swayman and said he has no plans to go back to arbitration either.

2. Expect DeBrusk, other UFAs to hit open market

The Bruins have seven players set to hit unrestricted free agency on Monday, and Sweeney said the “safe bet” is that all seven will go to the open market and not be re-signed before then.

That list is led by Jake DeBrusk, with whom Sweeney said there has been no progress made.

“I don't have any update at this point in time,” he said. “I suspect that Jake will head to UFA and test the market. Remain consistent that we've been in negotiations with Jake. We haven't had any productive talks in quite some time. At the end of the day, that's his prerogative to see what July 1 brings.”

Other pending UFAs include forwards Danton Heinen, James van Riemsdyk and Pat Maroon, and defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort and Kevin Shattenkirk.

Sweeney said he has talked to Heinen’s camp and one other player’s camp this week, but it’s unclear if those talks could lead to a deal coming together before Monday.

“We haven't signed all those players. I'm having a conversation with Danton and another one of our guys,” Sweeney said. “They kind of know what our position is, each and every one of those individuals and their representation. I think it's advantageous for them to take that knowledge. I don't think it helps anybody’s situation for me to declare anything.”

As for restricted free agents, the Bruins have Swayman and Jesper Boqvist at the NHL level, and Marc McLaughlin, Joey Abate, Curtis Hall, Alec Regula and Mike Callahan in the AHL. Sweeney has until the end of the weekend to issue them qualifying offers, but did not tip his hand as to whether they’ll all get one or not.

3. Free-agency priorities

Sweeney was asked what he hopes to come away with in free agency in a perfect world. Unsurprisingly, his list starts with a center.

“We'd like to deepen the middle of the ice with us,” Sweeney said. “So that's where we're we've been focused in trying to have those talks with our group to say, ‘OK, who would be the guy?’ And make hopefully the pitch at the right time that we can add a player of that nature. I think we continue to look to strengthen our back end and complement the group we have there. And then from there, it's sort of like, how much of the pie is left?

“…We just have to attack. I can’t tell you that we’re going to satisfy every need that our group had identified or you might identify, but we are going to be aggressive to try to improve our hockey club.”

The Bruins have been linked to Elias Lindholm on and off for over a year, and the former Flame and Canuck is indeed expected to go to the open market. From what I’ve heard, the Bruins’ interest in signing Lindholm remains very real. Expect them to make a serious push.

Steven Stamkos is also now just days away from free agency, still without a new contract from the Lightning. After that top of the market, the names to watch at center are Matt Duchene, Chandler Stephenson, Sean Monahan, Max Domi and Alex Wennberg.

It is interesting that the second spot Sweeney identified after center was defense and not a scoring wing. The Bruins would love to address both, but may have to prioritize one over the other.

As of now, Boston has about $24 million in cap space. If you earmark $7-8 million for Swayman and $7-8 million for a center, that leaves $8-9 million. The Bruins could make one more run at a top-of-the-market player, or split it up and target a second/third-tier wing and a second/third-tier defenseman.

The first tier of wingers would be Sam Reinhart and Jake Guentzel. The next tier features players like Jonathan Marchessault and Tyler Toffoli. The third tier probably includes the likes of Anthony Duclair and Tyler Bertuzzi.

On defense, Sweeney would probably be looking more at the left side than the right, where Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Andrew Peeke seem pretty well locked in. Left-shot targets could include Brady Skjei, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Erik Gustafsson and Nikita Zadorov. On the right, there are some players the Bruins have been linked to in past rumors like Matt Roy, Sean Walker, Alex Carrier and Chris Tanev.

4. Flexible approach to draft

Sweeney wasn’t about to commit to anything when it comes to the 25th pick, saying that it’s not 100% certain that he keeps the pick. The Bruins could use it in a trade for a player, or they could trade back to accumulate more draft picks (their second pick this year isn’t until the fourth round). Sweeney admitted it would be a challenge to trade up higher into the first round.

That said, Sweeney also acknowledged that there’s always a desire to add more young talent to the system, especially since the Bruins haven’t had a first-round pick in four of the last six drafts.

The Bruins clearly could use centers in the present and foreseeable future, but Sweeney said that drafting for “need” can sometimes be counterintuitive if it leads you to pass over better players.

“We're going to try and find the best player we possibly can,” Sweeney said. “There's always an eye towards positional needs if it presents, but it's a dangerous prospect to just go into the draft thinking you're just targeting this particular position. I think it's ill-fated at times, and you can make some mistakes. We all make them. They’re 18-year-old kids and a lot of development to be done. We want to find the best player that fits some of the things that our prospect pool may lack, but ultimately find the best player.”

One potential trade scenario to keep an eye on: Rutger McGroarty. The Winnipeg Jets are expected to trade the 2022 14th overall pick after a falling-out, and Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg News reported Thursday night that the Bruins have had “ongoing talks” with the Jets about the talented winger. McGroarty was ninth in the NCAA in scoring as a sophomore at the University of Michigan last season with 52 points (16g, 36a) in 36 games and plays with jam.

5. Lysell was knocking on the door before injury

The Bruins’ last first-round pick was Fabian Lysell in 2021. The 21-year-old right wing has yet to make his NHL debut, but Sweeney said he likely would have this spring if not for an unfortunate late-season injury.

“We were really excited about where Fabian’s trajectory and year was trending until that [injury],” Sweeney said. “I don't know if anybody saw it, it was a violent collision. He really dinged his shoulder, had a concussion. Good on him, he came back and actually played in the playoffs, but didn't feel 100% comfortable. … We were really excited about where he was heading.

“In all likelihood, if he had continued along that path and stayed healthy, would have gotten an opportunity up top like a lot of other guys did, because he had played that well. So, now he's got to hit the reset button and have a really good offseason and come back with the intention that he knows how well he can play. He knows how much we were proud of the steps he had taken.

“He had a good camp last year. He's still got to continue to work on his complete game. You know, the one-on-one skill stuff and some of the things he can do to change a game are really good. Just gotta continue to build his team game, as Monty [Jim Montgomery] would describe it, and have a better understanding of when you might push that envelope, when you're not, you know, the risk-reward that most high-skill players are gonna have to go through.”

A lot was made of Providence coach Ryan Mougenel calling out Lysell in December for not “buying in” to playing a “team game,” but by all accounts, including Sweeney’s, Lysell made real strides in that department in the second half while continuing to produce offensively.

The Bruins probably shouldn’t bank on Lysell being ready to contribute at the NHL level this season, but it sure would be a big help if he is. Being able to incorporate young, cheap talent, like the Bruins did last year with Matt Poitras, Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei, is a necessity for any team hoping to contend year after year. Having to constantly fill holes through free agency and trades adds up.

6. Marchand underwent some ‘cleanup’

Sweeney said after the season that no one was scheduled for any surgeries. He was asked Thursday if that remained the case and revealed that Brad Marchand had an unspecified “cleanup” procedure.

“He’ll be fine,” Sweeney added.

There had been reports out of Europe after the World Championships that David Pastrnak had some sort of hip issue that may have needed surgery, but Sweeney didn’t say anything about Pastrnak, so it seems the Bruins are in the clear there. He was not asked directly about Pastrnak, but did say Marchand was the “only one.”