Bruins’ top brass talk Ullmark, an ‘aggressive’ offseason & more

Less than a week after the Bruins’ 2023-24 season came to a close at the hands of the Panthers, Boston’s top brass gathered at TD Garden to reflect on the past year and chart out plans for what should be a busy offseason. 

Don Sweeney, Jim Montgomery, Cam Neely, and Charlie Jacobs touched on several subjects during the 40-minute press conference — including the futures of Linus Ullmark and Jake DeBrusk, Boston’s stockpile of cap space, and much more.

Here are several takeaways from the Bruins’ final press conference of the 2023-24 season. 

Staying put 

Before fielding questions, Charlie Jacobs settled one major order of business — noting that Neely, Sweeney, and Montgomery are all expected back for the 2024-25 season. 

“I’d like to mention that the three gentlemen to my left (Sweeney, Neely and Montgomery) have my complete confidence,” Jacobs said. “We have no expectation of personnel changes coming during this offseason. … (Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs) has empowered myself, and the three gentlemen to my left, to run the day-to-day operations of the Boston Bruins and the roster.”

Neely has served as the Bruins’ president since 2010, while Sweeney has held court as the team’s general manager since the end of the 2014-15 season. Montgomery was hired by Boston two summers ago, and is reportedly entering the final season of his three-year contract. 

Even though the Bruins largely exceeded expectations this season given their cap constraints and patchwork roster, Sweeney stressed that the end result of a second-round exit still stands as a bitter pill to swallow.  

“We’re disappointed that we did not push this, to the very least, to a Game 7. We put together a team that was very competitive in the regular season,” Sweeney said. “We fell short in the playoffs in some areas that certainly this summer we need to continue to address from the standpoint of free agency and/or internal growth. I have to be able to find some players that can come in and provide secondary scoring.”

Boston’s coaches and front-office personnel might remain intact for 2024-25. But the same can’t be said for Boston’s roster this summer. 

Changes in net?

It should come as little surprise, but Sweeney stressed that the first order of business this offseason for Boston will involve handing Jeremy Swayman a hefty new contract.

After the Bruins and Swayman went to arbitration last summer en route to a one-year, $3.475 million contract, the writing is on the wall that Swayman is in line for a long-term extension and sizable pay bump.

Swayman established himself as Boston’s go-to option in net for the present and future off of this latest playoff run — starting 12 of the Bruins’ 13 postseason games and sporting a .933 save percentage over that stretch. 

“It’s clearly a priority and Jeremy knows that,” Sweeney said. “He took us to the last arbitration, just for clarity’s sake. … Sometimes, those things happen in the course of business. It’s not an indication of whether or not we believed in Jeremy Swayman. Whether or not we think he’s a part of our future.”

“We clearly engaged in conversation during the regular season to find a longer-term extension. We haven’t gotten there yet. It’s a priority now. It will continue to be a priority until we get that across the finish line. He’s a big part of our current team and the run that he went on in the playoffs and our future. … The priority will be to find a landing spot with Jeremy.”

Of course, a new extension for Swayman will complicate matters for Linus Ullmark and Boston’s stellar goalie tandem moving forward. 

Even though Sweeney acknowledged that the Bruins would like to keep that tandem in place for the long haul, it’s a luxury that may no longer be feasible this offseason — especially if Swayman’s new contract means that $11-14 million is tied up at the goaltender position. 

“If we can make the math work, we’re going to have the best tandem,” Sweeney said of keeping both Swayman and Ullmark next season. “If we can’t, we’re going to explore and/or Linus may come to us and change his mind (about staying). That may occur as well. Right now he’s really happy. 

“We were very happy to sign Linus. In a perfect world, we would keep the tandem because I think it’s damn good. But we’re going to explore opportunities. My phone is going to ring and I’m going to make calls. That’s just what the job requires.”

Farewell to Jake DeBrusk? 

Re-signing Swayman sits at the top of Boston’s to-do list. But retaining Jake DeBrusk might be just as vital for a Bruins team that could use his scoring punch and speed — especially during the postseason.

Despite DeBrusk’s divisive reputation at times due to his inconsistent production, he was arguably Boston’s most impactful forward during the postseason with a team-high 11 points.

Even though the pending unrestricted free agent expressed interest in returning to Boston earlier this week, Sweeney’s comments painted the picture of a player who might price himself out of Boston’s projections on the open market. 

“Negotiations are a two-way street,” Sweeney said of contract talks with DeBrusk. “We took an aggressive position with Jake — no different than other players that have chosen not to re-sign and explore. That’s within his right, certainly this time of the year. Do I see a path? Yeah, there’s a path. 

“I told him that in our exit (interviews). He’s been a big part of our group, he elevated in the playoffs. I would prefer to have Jake DeBrusk on our team, but he has some opportunities in front of him that he may pursue otherwise. So, I don’t have a clear answer for you today. But I know the position we’ve taken, we feel very comfortable. But it didn’t get it to the finish line.”

The Bruins have the cap space to retain DeBrusk and Swayman. But with Boston needing to shore up several other areas of its roster this offseason, the Bruins may not want to engage in a bidding war for the winger’s services. 

As for the rest of Boston’s free-agent grouping? 

“I’ve had conversations with all of our impending free agents — giving them an indication of where we’d be, but we haven’t made any final concrete decisions,” Sweeney acknowledged. “Just telling them, we have upcoming meetings that we have to go through and put the jigsaw puzzle together as we see it and how aggressive we’re going to be. But I’ve indicated to some players of the likely direction, but nothing definitive.”

An ‘aggressive’ offseason on tap

Beyond the in-house priorities regarding Swayman, Ulmark, and DeBrusk, the Bruins should be well-positioned to add to a roster that exceeded expectations in 2023-24. Boston is projected to have $20.9 million in available cap space this offseason (per CapFriendly) — with that number expected to grow if the Bruins are able to move Ullmark and his $5 million cap hit. 

That extra spending capital could put Boston in a position to add more scoring punch up front — especially at the center position — retain or replace DeBrusk with another top-six winger, and/or find a third-pairing defenseman to pair with Andrew Peeke. 

“We are in a situation where we can look to add to our core group of guys. And that includes also some of younger guys. …  But we’re going to be aggressive, to be able to complement what we currently have in some areas,” Sweeney said.

Neely stressed that the Bruins needs to make an effort toward adding more speed up front, especially when it comes to winning 50/50 puck battles, while Sweeney bemoaned Boston’s inability to capitalize down low against Florida. 

“Things tighten up, you have to find a way,” Sweeney said of scoring in the playoffs. “We didn’t get inside quite enough in rebound situations that we might have been able to take advantage of. So there are some things that we need to address. 

“And I need to address it from a standpoint of free agency and/or internal growth. … We have to complement, I have to be able to find some players that can come in and provide secondary scoring for us at key, opportune times.”

Marchand due for a new contract

Brad Marchand is set to enter the final year of the eight-year, $49 million contract he signed back in September 2016. It should come as little surprise that the Bruins expect to carve out a new deal with their captain, although that might be addressed a little further down the line this offseason. 

“We’re gonna get to Brad. He’s learning patience as a captain as well,” Sweeney said. “He has to learn that there’s some ducks in a row as he advocates in terms of adding to our group and how excited he was to add to that. Those guys don’t have contracts that I’m going to add and eventually, he’ll extend here and remain a life-long Bruin. … But we’ll check that box.”