The Boston Bruins have a fairly glaring need for a top-six center. The free agent market is a little thin as 34-year-old Steven Stamkos is the headliner and likely staying in Tampa Bay. Vancouver’s Elias Lindholm has been a target of Boston General Manager Don Sweeney since the trade deadline last season, but the 28-year-old has seen a decline in play recently, making his market value a little murky. Whether or not the Bruins will be able to fill this void is yet to be determined.
But another sneaky hole could be on defense. The Bruins have left shot defenseman Hampus Lindholm locked up for many years, and Mason Lohrei showed promise in his rookie season. The third pair blueliner projects to be Parker Wotherspoon, who re-signed last season on a one-year, $800,000 contract. Beyond that, Boston could use some depth on the left side. The right side seems stable with Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Andrew Peeke.
The talk around the league is centering around Boston being interested in Los Angeles Kings’ defenseman Matt Roy. Bruins’ writer Jimmy Murphy recently posted that an NHL source mentioned that Boston discussed a deadline deal for Roy involving goaltender Linus Ullmark. If the Kings do not re-sign the 29-year-old Roy, Boston might resume interest in the upcoming unrestricted free agent.
Roy registered five goals and 20 assists this season with a plus-21 rating. The seventh-round draft pick in 2015 delivered 152 hits and blocked 197 shots. Only McAvoy had more blacked shots on the Bruins, and the hit total would have placed Roy fourth on the Bruins. The physicality would be appealing to Boston as they look to be more physical along the blue line. Roy is also a good penalty kill who blocks shots which would help Boston replace the loss of unrestricted free agent Derek Forbort.
On the surface, right-shot defense might not look like a need for the Bruins and it is hard to tell what the value of a new deal would look like for Roy, but it still looks like a good match. Time will tell whether the Bruins finally get a deal done for the Michigan native.
