Team: 2020-21 Boston Bruins

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 6, 2020

Published: Jun. 9, 2020

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

A Long Winded Explanation about the moves made:
Free Agency:
Jake DeBrusk, 6 Years, 5.5 Million AAV
Matt Grzelcyk, 5 Years, 3.75 Million AAV
Torey Krug, 6 Years, 7.125 Million AAV
Anders Bjork, 1 Year, 1.24 Million AAV

Frankly, with the shutdown and no clue on some of the payments that some of these players (Bjork) could be getting, this is the best I could do currently. I think DeBrusk is well-worth the payday, his point-per-game average number is slightly higher than Charlie Coyle's but he's also 5 years younger than Coyle is and still has more room in his game for growth. Grzelcyk and Krug, pretty self-explanatory. They're both solid defensemen (Krug on offense, Grzelcyk has a two-way game that I genuinely like as well). 6 years sounds right for Krug as you don't want to give him an albatross deal. As far as Anders Bjork goes, I think he played well for Boston this year and if he can stay healthy, he is a solid top 9 to top 6 winger here. It doesn't matter here that I may have overpaid for any players either, I still have some cap room left over.

Trades:
Nick Ritchie for a 4th Round Pick

I don't think Nick Ritchie adds much and would be slightly overpaid as a 4th-liner, he can eff off to somewhere else! I heard Detroit's nice this time of year, but it doesn't matter where you send him. Just get a draft pick here and let the Bruins scouting department do the rest.

Lines:
1F: self-explanatory
2F: Good skill line, DeBrusk and Krejci have good chemistry and I think as a fellow Czech, Kase will add to that chemistry with Krejci.
3F: Studnicka is making this roster and playing him on the 4th line isn't good for him for a growth standpoint. I like him as a 3RW with Bjork and Coyle.
4F: This is where it gets interesting. This line has speed, grit and even a bit of skill. Kuhlman hasn't played much 4th line at all, but I think he works best with Kuraly and Wagner. I'm almost tempted to put Wagner as a scratch and put Par Lindholm at LW, but I'll hold off for now.

1D: Grzelcyk and McAvoy. I like this pairing for a few reasons. Zdeno Chara is getting older and slower by the day and Grzelcyk will help add more offense on the first pairing. They also were teammates at BU for a year. I think they have a natural chemistry there. While Chara has been a great mentor to McAvoy, I think it's time for him to take the reins here on the blue line.
2D: Krug and Carlo. Keep them together.
3D: Chara and Lauzon. This is a tough pairing right here. Lauzon is a solid defensive player and was better on that third pairing this year than Connor Clifton was, so put him on the opening night roster for sure.

Goalies: if it ain't broke don't fix it.

LTIR: John Moore, he's injury-prone enough where he can spend some time on LTIR, every team exploits this at least once a year, and with the cap likely remaining static, I can see it being done again.

I can't wait to get shredded in the comment section below, this'll be fun !!